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THREE GREAT POLAR EXPLORERS 

(Reading from left to right), Sir Ernest H. Shackleton, discoverer of the South 
Magnetic Pole; Rear-Admiral Robert E. Peary, discoverer of the North Pole; 
Roald Amundsen, discoverer of the South Pole. 





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■^^SCENE of the FINAL DISASTE 
\ Where Capt SCOTT, Dr.WILSON 



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THE TOLL OF THE ANTARCTIC: WHERE C 

The main features of Captain Scott's last journey are plainly indicated in this diagrammat 
Pole exactly 35 days before Captain Scott. The inset map, drawn to scale, shows the furthest 
been attained, about nine-tenths of the great Southern Continent remains to be explored. 




■,REAT SHEET OF 
FLOATING BARRIER ICE 



AMUNDservs BAse**y- 

820 miles from the Pole; 



POLE 
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CAP"' SCOTT ^vj/v AMUNDSEN 

Arrived Jan. 18. lSia-j.--^5''!?«-T''*'''"ived Dec.l4-I7. 1911 
SOUTR^PetE 




ilN SCOTT AND HIS COMRADES PERISHED 

iture, as well as the route of his more fortunate rival, Roald Amundsen, who reached the South 
is reached by other pioneers in the Antarctic. It will be seen that, though the actual Pole ha s 




CAPTAIN ROBERT F. SCOTT 

Who died a martyr to science after reaching the South Pole, the goal of his 
ambitions, only to find that a rival had anticipated him. 



THE STORY OF 

POLAR CONQUEST 

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF ARCTIC 
AND ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION 

INCLUDING 

The Discovery of the South Pole 
By Amundsen and Scott 

THE TRAGIC FATE OF THE 
SCOTT EXPEDITION 

AND 

The Discovery of the North Pole 
By Admiral Peary 



EDITED 

By LOGAN MARSHALL 

AuraoK OF "Thb Sinking of thb Titanic," "Lifb of Thbooorb Roosbvblt.! 
"Blub Book of Pbiactical Information," Etc. 



lUlOBttBUh 



.0? 



4.. 



c^-^^^ 



Copyright 1913, by 
L. T. MYERS 



The material in this work is fully protected 
under the copyright laws of the United 
States. All persons are warned against 
making any use of it without permission. 




SEP 1 1 1915 

©CI.A41i4a9 



^ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I. PAGE 

The Scott Expedition and Its Tragic Fate ■. . . . .r 7 

CHAPTER n. 
Robert F. Scott, Antarctic Martyr ■. 28 

CHAPTER HI. 
First at the South Pole: The Thrilling Story of the 

Amundsen Expedition 38 

CHAPTER IV. 
Roald Amundsen, Intrepid Discoverer of the South Pole 50 

CHAPTER V. 
Shackleton on the Threshold of the South Pole , 54 

CHAPTER VI. 
Previous Attempts to Penetrate the Antarctic Region. 62 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Discovery of the North Pole: The Story of Peary's 

Great Exploit 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Side-Lights on the Peary Expedition 99 

CHAPTER IX. 
Robert E. Peary, the Indomitable Polar Explorer 116 

CHAPTER X. 
The Search for the Northwest Passage 131 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Ross and Parry Polar Voyages . ..;.,. 143 



CONTENTS 

CxtAPXxLR X.II. PAGE 

The First Franklin Expedition 151 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Terrible Fate of the Sir John Franklin Expedition 157 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Dr. Kane's Famous Arctic Voyage 175 

CHAPTER XV. 
Hayes, Hall and Other Hardy Adventurers 196 

CHAPTER XVI. 

NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 2l6 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Horrors of the "Jeannette" Expedition 223 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Melville Finds the Remains of the DeLong Party 237 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Greely's Arctic Winter of Starvation 250 

CHAPTER XX. 
Nansen's Memorable Voyage in the "Fram" 268 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Andree's Fatal Flight Northward in a Balloon 289 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Abruzzi, the Royal Italian Explorer 302 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Interesting Scientific Work in the Polar Regions 315 



CAPTAIN SCOTT'S LAST MESSAGE TO 
THE WORLD 



"' This message to the public: 

"The causes of this disaster are not due to faulty 
organization, hut misfortune in all the risks which had to 
be undertaken. 

"Writing is difficult, hut for my own sake I do not 
regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can 
endure hardships, help one another and meet death with as 
great a fortitude as ever in the past. We tookjisks. We 
knew we took them. Things have come out against us, and 
therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will 
of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last. 

"But if we have been willing to give our lives to this 
enterprise, which is for the honor of our country, I appeal 
to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are 
properly cared for. Had we lived I should have a tale to 
tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my com- 
panions which would have stirred the heart of every 
Englishman. 

"These notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, 
hut, surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see 
that those who are dependent on us are properly provided 
for. 

"R. SCOTT. 

"Marched, 1912.'' 



(5) 




MAP SHOWING THE ROUTES BY WHICH AMUNDSEN AND SCOTT 
REACHED THE SOUTH POLE, AND THAT OF AMUNDSEN'S 

RETURN 



CHAPTER I 

The Scott Expedition and Its Tragic Fate 

IN all the history of polar exploration covering nearly four cen- 
turies of adventure, hazard, suffering and death, and containing 

many pages marked with tragedy, there is no incident at once 
so tragic, pathetic, striking and unique as that contained in the news 
which reached the civilized world on February lo, 19 13, telling of 
the death of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his brave companions, 
who reached the goal of their expedition on January 18, 191 2, and 
who succumbed to the terrible cold and exposure on the return jour- 
ney, their death occurring about March 29, 191 2. 

"If blood be the price of Admiralty, Lord God, we ha' paid it 
fair!" are the words that Kipling puts into the mouths of British 
sailormen; and to some such reflection men and women of every 
land were stirred by the tidings of the loss of Captain Scott and 
the members of his Antarctic expedition. They had achieved their 
purpose, they had reached their goal, even though anticipated by 
a month through the intrepidity of Roald Amundsen, the Nor- 
wegian. In their last hours there on the frozen Antarctic plain, 
with no hope of succor from any quarter, these gallant men might 
have said, as Greeley said to his rescuers: "Here we are; we did 
what we came to do; we are dying like men." 

The British Antarctic expedition of Captain Scott for the dis- 
covery of the South Pole began on June i, 1910, when his vessel, 
the "Terra Nova," sailed from London for Portsmouth and Cardiff. 

Thanks to a fund of $200,000 which had been raised for him 
by the government and the people to aid him win for British glory 
the conquest of the last undiscovered region of the earth. Captain 

(7) 



8 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

Scott's expedition was the most completely and ingeniously equipped 
of any that had ever set out for Arctic or Antarctic exploration. 

The "Terra Nova" was formerly a Dundee whaler, built 
twenty-eight years ago. It was purchased by the British Admiralty 
in 1903 as a relief ship for the earliest British Antarctic expedition 
of Captain Scott on the ship "Discovery," in 1901-1904. In 1905 
the vessel had made an extensive North Polar expedition to Franz 
Josef Land, thus having ranged from the ice barrier in the south 
to the northern polar pack. 

The "Terra Nova" carried sixty persons in all and stores for 
three years. Besides twenty Siberian ponies and thirty dogs for the 
transportation of supplies, and of the men themselves in the latter 
stages of the journey, the expedition carried, as a development in 
Antarctic travel, two specially designed motor sledges for the trans- 
portation of men and supplies from the ship to the foot of the glacier. 
The sledges were capable of covering from two to three and a half 
miles an hour under the most rigorous conditions. 

Captain Scott planned to divide his expedition into two parties, 
one in the west setting out for the pole from McMurdo Sound, and 
a second, about 400 miles east of it, exploring King Edward's Land. 

The "Terra Nova" carried the largest scientific staff ever taken 
on such an expedition, it being the avowed purpose of Captain Scott, 
irrespective of his success in reaching the Pole itself, to bring back 
a wealth of accurate data. The expedition, therefore, consisted of 
twenty-eight officers and scientists, in addition to the crew of twenty- 
seven picked from hundreds of volunteers. 

The principal members of the expedition, besides Captain Scott, 
were: Lieutenant E. R. G. R. Evans, R.N., second in command of 
the proposed western party; Dr. E. A. Wilson, chief of the scien- 
tific staff, zoologist and artist; Lieutenant V. L. A. Campbell, R.N., 
leader of the eastern party; Lieutenant H. L. L. Pennell, R.N., 
magnetic and meteorological work; Lieutenant H. E. deP. Ren- 
nick, R.N., of the western party; Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, Royal 




CAPTAIN SCOTT IN ANTARCTIC COSTUME 

His expedition was thoroughly equipped and well planned in every way. The 
disaster was caused by the loss of equipment, the delay due to sickness on the 
journey back from the Pole, with the consequent shortage of food and fuel, and the 
terrible climatic conditions encountered. 




THE "TERRA NOVA," CAPTAIN ROBERT F. SCOTT'S SHIP, 
CAUGHT IN THE ICE 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 9 

Indian Marines; Engineer-Lieutenant E. W. Riley, R.N. ; Surgeon 
G. M. Levick, R.N., doctor and zoologist; Surgeon E. L. Atkinson, 
R.N., doctor, bacteriologist and parasitologist; F. R. H. Drake, 
R.N., secretary; C. H. Meares, in charge of the ponies and dogs 
for the western party ; Captain R. E. G. Gates, Inniskilling Dra- 
goons, in charge of ponies and dogs ; Dr. G. L. Simpson, physicist 
of the western party; T. Griffin Taylor, geologist; E. W. Nelson^ 
biologist of the western party; D. G. Lillie, biologist; A. Cherry 
Garrard, assistant zoologist of the western party; H. G. Pouting, 
photographer of the western party; B. C. Day, motor engineer of 
the western party ; W. G. Thompson, geologist of the western party ; 
C. S. Wright, chemist of the western party. 

Mr. Pouting, who is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Soci- 
ety, had a wide experience as a scientific photographer, having trav- 
eled twice around the world, and illustrated more than twenty 
different countries. He took cameras specially made of light, strong 
metal, two cinematograph machines and a complete developing outfit. 

The voyage to New Zealand was accomplished without special 
incident, and on November 29, 1910, a start was made from Port 
Chalmers, near Christchurch, New Zealand. From there the "Terra 
Nova" made direct south into Ross Sea. Early in January, 191 1, 
she forced her way into McMurdo Sound, where winter quarters 
were established on Cape Evans. In the journey to McMurdo 
Sound, however, at which point the polar expedition was to leave the 
vessel, two ponies and one dog were lost in storms that swept away 
part of the vessel's bulwarks and almost quenched the fires in her 
engine room. The members of the expedition had a very arduous 
task in putting their stores on shore and the work took a week. One 
of the motor sleciges was lost through a hole in the ice at this early 
stage of the expedition. However, the men were able to make them- 
selves very comfortable at Cape Evans in houses which they had 
carried with them in "knockdown" form. They at once began their 
scientific observations. 



xo THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

Provisions for a three years' stay in the ice regions had been 
taken on board the 'Terra Nova" and these were placed on shore. 

Captain Scott rehed on his motor sledges to transport the expe- 
dition to the foot of the glacier, and on the ponies to carry sufficient 
food to that point, while he depended on the dog teams, with relays 
of men, to take the loads over the glacier, and on picked men and 
dogs to make the final dash across the inland ice sheet to the Pole. 

Captain Scott's main traveling party was to consist of sixteen 
men besides himself, while groups of four men each were to return 
at different stages of the journey, leaving Scott and four others to 
complete the final dash to the Pole. 

As soon as the preliminary arrangements were completed at 
Cape Evans, Captain Scott departed south on a sledge journey with 
twelve men, expecting to return over new ice early in April. Mean- 
while the "Terra Nova" proceeded westward to land a geological 
party, and then eastward to land a party of exploration on King 
Edward's Land. 

Proceeding eastward from McMurdo Sound, the "Terra Nova" 
surveyed the Great Ice Barrier as far as 170 west longitude. A 
landing on King Edward's Land, however, was prevented by the 
fact that the "Terra Nova" encountered a high barrier of ice at Cape 
Colbeck on February 2, 191 1. The ship therefore put back toward 
McMurdo Sound. 

Two days later one of the most dramatic incidents of the race 
for the South Pole occurred, for on rounding an ice cape and coming 
in sight of the Bay of Whales, in latitude 78 degrees 40 minutes 
south, Lieutenant Pennell, in command, came suddenly and unex- 
pectedly upon the "Fram," the staunch old Norwegian ship in which 
Nansen had made his North Pole journeys, and from which, the 
men of the Scott expedition now learned for the first time, Captain 
Roald Amundsen and his party, fully equipped, were making a quiet 
little dash of their own toward the South Pole. 

The news of this meeting, which was cabled from Stewart 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE ii 

Island on March 2y, 191 1, startled the civilized world, for it was 
believed, as originally announced by the Norwegian explorer him- 
self, that Amundsen was heading for the North Pole. He had 
admitted at Madeira that he might do a little work in the Antarctic 
in passing, but no one supposed then that he had any intention of 
making a dash for the South Pole. Nothing had been heard of 
Amundsen since he left Madeira in October, 19 10, ostensibly bound 
to round Cape Horn and try for the North Pole. 

The race for the South Pole suddenly became international, and 
back in civilization people began to discuss the etiquette of Captain 
Amundsen's keeping this south polar plan secret, and his landing 
near, if not in, Captain Scott's announced sphere of exploration. 

The "Terra Nova," after saluting the "Fram," returned to 
McMurdo Sound and continued eastward and northward to Cape 
Adare, where it landed a party for the winter. This, being in the 
sphere of exploration announced by Dr. D. Mawson, an Australian 
explorer, who was to start soon afterward, brought, in turn, in 
civilized countries some criticism as to the etiquette of the Scott 
expedition. 

The main interest, however, centered in the question of who — 
Scott or Amundsen — ^would reach the South Pole ifirst. Amundsen 
started from a point 80 miles further south than Scott. Yet to dash 
straightway toward the South Pole might mean the encountering of 
a formidable mountain chain to bar approach to the goal, an 
unknown quantity which it was thought he would be unwilling to 
face, preferring instead to go up by way of the better-known route of 
Beardmore Glacier, between the Commonwealth and Queen Alex- 
andra ranges of mountains. 

It was through this glacier that Captain Scott planned, as one 
alternative, to strike toward the Pole. To reach the glacier he had 
to complete the first stage of his dash by means of motor sledges, 
ponies, dogs and ski runners, past Mt. Hope, where his chief trans- 
port agents were to be left. 



12 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

It was on January 25, 191 1, that Captain Scott and his party 
left Cape Evans to estabHsh depots. Shortly afterwards the break- 
ing of the sea-ice at South Cape cut off connection with Cape Evans. 
The depot-laying party was composed of twelve men, who with two 
dog teams and eight ponies were occupied for more than a month in 
fitting out a main camp seven miles to the southeast of Hut Point 
at the foot of the barrier. Here were left the greater part of the 
supplies in order to lighten as much as possible the weight to be 
transported. From this point the party worked 27 miles to the south- 
east with single loads to a place which they named Corner Camp, 
and then turned south to avoid the crevasses of White Island. The 
work was particularly hard on account of the soft surface of the 
snow, the three days' blizzard which had been encountered at 
Corner Camp and the poor condition of the ponies. 

Scott and his party continued south, and while the weather 
became no better, the surface of the snow materially improved, 
making progress much easier. The marching was done at night 
and the days were spent in rest. It was necessary to send back three 
of the weakest ponies, but owing to another severe blizzard, which 
was encountered during their return, two of them died. On Febru- 
ary 1 6th, with the remaining ponies and dogs, Scott reached latitude 
79 degrees 30 minutes. By this time the weather conditions had 
become so terrible that Scott decided to make a depot at this point 
with the bulk of the supplies carried with him, and then return to 
Base Camp with the dog teams. About one ton of supplies were 
left and the station was named One Ton Camp. 

Crossing a corner of White Island, one of the dog teams fell in 
a crevasse. The sledge, containing Scott and Mears, fortunately 
did not go over, but held the dogs hanging by their harness. It 
required three hours' arduous work to rescue the dogs, one of which 
was so severely injured that it died shortly afterwards. On reach- 
ing Base Camp Scott was delighted to find the ponies much improved, 
and in fact in excellent condition. He also for the first time received 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 13 

the news of the sighting of Amundsen's ship, the 'Tram," and of 
Amundsen's determination to seek the South Poje. 

After a short rest the party set out again on February 24th to 
carry further suppHes to Corner Camp, and, despite a severe bHzzard, 
succeeded in making the journey and returned to Base Camp on 
February 28th. The storm had raged with such severity that all 
efforts to shelter the ponies with snow walls had failed, and the snow 
with the terrific, biting, freezing wind had left the ponies much the 
worse for their experience. On this account Scott determined to 
retire to Hut Point. This trip was made in three relays, Wilson and 
Mears going forward at once with dog teams. Scott, with Oates 
and Gran, held back in the endeavor to save one of the ponies which 
was in a very serious condition, while Bowers, Cherry, Garrard and 
Crean, with the four best ponies, followed the dog teams. Near Hut 
Point, Bowers and his companions were compelled to stop and make 
camp in order to rest the ponies. The halt was made at 2 A. M. on 
March ist. At 4 130 A. M. a commotion aroused the men, who found 
that the ice was breaking all around the camp and moving with a 
heavy swell. Quickly taking up its march again, the party worked 
its way with the greatest difficulty over the broken ice toward the 
barrier that night without losing any of the ponies. After about 
eight hours of the most hazardous traveling over the broken ice floes 
they reached the barrier, but were unable to surmount it. Finding 
themselves in constant peril from the grinding of the huge ice cakes 
against the barrier, they sent Crean eastward over the moving ice 
in an effort to find a pass in the barrier. Meanwhile Scott and his 
companions, who were unsuccessful in their efforts to save the sick 
pony, reached the barrier at another point and were forced to retreat 
by the grinding and breaking of the ice against the barrier. Wilson, 
who had come out from Base Camp, met Scott and informed him 
of having seen ponies adrift on the sea ice. Later Crean came upon 
Scott's party, and with Scott and Oates started back to assist Bowers 
and his companions. After several hours of most tiresome and 



14 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

nerve-racking effort they succeeded in reaching the men, but it was 
after midnight before the sledges could be hoisted over the barrier 
with the use of Alpine ropes. The ponies, however, had to be left 
on the moving ice with full nose bags until the morning. 

Resting until 8 A. M. the party moved north to where the ponies 
had been carried by the ice and again went to their rescue. Bowers 
and Oates succeeded in reaching the animals and endeavored to lead 
them back to the edge of the ice floe, but owing to the many perilous 
jumps only one pony was rescued, the others being lost to the killer 
whales. This pony, and one which Scott had with him, were now 
the only two left in addition to those at Cape Evans — a severe blow 
to the expedition. 

On March 4th Hut Point was reached, but the building required 
considerable repairs before it could be made habitable. Here on 
March 15th Scott and his party were augmented by the return of 
the Western Geological Party, which brought the number up to six- 
teen. After completing their arrangement for depots by further 
trips to Corner Camp, Scott with eight of his companions started 
back for Cape Evans on April i ith, which point they reached on the 
13th. The station was found in the best of order with the self- 
recording instruments in perfect operation. It was found, however, 
that one of the nine ponies which had been left at Cape Evans had 
died, together with one of the dogs. It was not until May 13th, three 
weeks after the sun had gone, that the rest of the men and animals 
from Hut Point returned to Cape Evans; then the whole party, 
reunited for the long night, settled themselves down in their winter 
quarters where the provision that had been made for heating, light- 
ing, ventilating and cooking proved highly satisfactory. The ponies 
and dogs were also comfortably stabled. The four months that 
followed were not, however, months of idleness. There was much 
routine and scientific work to be done, the animals had to be exer- 
cised, lectures were held, and even football was indulged in on the 
ice. 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 15 

With the return of the sun in August active preparations were 
made for the coming dash to the Pole, and with the dogs and ponies 
in good condition the hopes of the men ran high. During the winter 
four of the dogs had been lost through some mysterious disease from 
which they succumbed within a few hours after the first symptoms 
of illness. Mears and Dimitri with dog teams established themselves 
at Hut Point, and by the end of the month a telephone had been 
installed between that point and Cape Evans. A trip was also made 
to Corner Camp by Lieutenant Evans, Gran and Forde, and on Sep- 
tember 15th, accompanied by Bowers, Simpson and Petty Officer 
Evans, Scott made a trip to the west as far as Ferrar Glacier, where 
it was found from the stakes planted by Wright that the ice had 
moved thirty feet in seven months. With the departure a few days 
later of the Western Geological Party, composed of Taylor, Deben- 
ham, Gran and Forde, the activities of the main party which was to 
travel toward the goal were further increased. 

On October 30th, Lieutenant Evans, Bay, Lashley and Hooper, 
composing the motor sledge party, started out with the motor sledges 
carrying fuel and forage. Difficulty was experienced on the ice at 
places where it had only a thin covering of snow, but notwithstand- 
ing this, the motor sledges demonstrated their efficiency beyond 
question. 

On November 2nd the pony party, consisting of Scott, Wilson, 
Oates, Bowers, Cherry, Garrard, Atkinson, Wright, Evans, Crean 
and Keokane, started forward for Corner Camp. The ponies were 
worked with light loads and easy marches to Corner Camp, with full 
loads and easy marches to One Ton Camp, and with increased pres- 
sure thereafter. Corner Camp was reached on November 24th by 
Scott and the pony party and also by the dog teams which had caught 
up with Scott some days earlier. Traveling about 15 miles every 
night, Scott and his companions, with the ponies and dogs, found 
the motor party waiting at latitude 80 degrees 30 minutes. The 
motors were abandoned because of the over-heating of the air-cooled 



i6 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

engines. Scott preferred the abandonment of the sledges, which up 
to this point had proved exceedingly valuable, rather than to take 
time to remedy their defects. At intervals of four miles snow cairns 
were constructed as guide posts for homeward parties, and at every 
degree of latitude a week's provisions were deposited. At latitude 
8 1 degrees 15 minutes the motor party returned. On December 
loth, latitude 83 degrees 45 minutes was reached. Up to this time 
three of the ponies had been killed and two more were sacrificed near 
the 83rd parallel. These animals were not exhausted by any means, 
but on account of lightening loads their services were no longer 
required and they were therefore used as food for the dogs. 

As the party proceeded to the south the weather conditions 
became more and more severe. The fall of snow was almost con- 
stant, and sky and land were only infrequently visible. Despite these 
handicaps Scott pushed steadily forward, and owing to Captain 
Oates' careful attention to the ponies, the sturdy little animals con- 
tinued to pull splendidly. On December 4th the explorers reached 
latitude 83 degrees 24 minutes, which was within twelve miles of 
Mt. Hope. Had it not been for the severity of the storms probably 
the glacier would have been reached on the following day, but the 
violent wind and fall of snow continued and the men found it neces- 
sary repeatedly to dig the ponies out of the snow. The storm con- 
tinued to rage for four days, during which time land could not be 
seen, although only a few miles away. When the storm ceased the 
temperature rose to plus three, with the result that the melting snow 
completely soaked all of the equipment. Scott and his men then 
moved forward with the greatest difficulty, as the storm had left 
eighteen inches of wet snow on what had previously been a difficult 
surface. Progress would have been impossible had not the leading 
pony worn snow shoes. After fourteen hours of the most difficult 
traveling without stopping for a meal, only eight miles had been 
covered. On December loth, the Beardmore Glacier was reached 
with the greatest difficulty. The men who were not provided with 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 17 

skis sank to their knees in the wet snow at ahnost every step, while 
the sledges settled to their crossbars. The uneven surface of the 
glacier was found to be filled with the hated soft snow, and for four 
days an almost hopeless struggle was maintained under these condi- 
tions. Working ten to eleven hours a day, it was barely possible to 
advance twenty miles in the four days. Only the indomitable cour- 
age of Scott and his companions made it possible to go forward at 
all. On the fifth day the surface of the snow became a trifle harder, 
but the party did not reach Cloudbreaker Mountain until December 
17th, a full week behind their schedule. 

From this point on progress was better, and the party advanced 
from thirteen to twenty-three miles a day, reaching latitude 85 
degrees 7 minutes south, in longitude 163 degrees 4 minutes east 
on December 21st, at a point about 6,800 feet above sea level, and 
about four miles south of the parallel of Mt. Darwin. From here 
the party going forward consisted of Scott, Lieutenant Evans, Wil- 
son, Bowers, Oates, Lashley, Petty Officer Evans and Crean, the 
others going back. Leaving the Upper Glacier Depot, the party 
turned to the southwest to avoid as much as possible the pressure of 
ridges and crevasses which gave frequent trouble. 

Christmas day was celebrated by extra rations close to the 86th 
parallel, but in other respects the hard work was continued, and 
seventeen miles of progress was reported on that day, but the week 
following was more difficult and a halt was made on New Year's Eve 
in latitude 86 degrees 56 minutes, where provisions were deposited 
and the sledges were rebuilt with new runners. Despite the fact 
that this work involved the loss of a day, it was amply repaid by the 
increased efficiency of the sledges, and on January 3, 1912, the party 
reached latitude 87 degrees 49 minutes south at a height of 9,800 
feet. Here the party was further reduced, those going forward 
being Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, Captain Oates, Lieutenant Bowers, 
and Petty Officer Evans, the others turning back. Being within 150 
miles of the Pole, the advance party carried with them a month's 



i8 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

provisions. It was indeed a most difficult task for Scott to select the 
members of the advance party as everyone was fit and anxious to go 
forward. Each man had worked his hardest and was desirous of 
making the entire trip to the goal. 

It is interesting here to notice the movement of the returning 
parties. Hooper and Day, who turned back on November 4th, 
reached Cape Evans on January 21st without serious mishap. When 
they reached the motor sledge which had been abandoned by the 
outward-bound party on the barrier near Safety Cape the previous 
week, they stopped to repair the motor, the necessary parts having 
been brought out by others on a later trip. 

Atkinson, Wright, Cherry, Garrard and Keokane, who left 
Scott's party at Upper Glacier Depot on December 21st, reached 
Cape Evans only a week later than Hooper and Day. On the descent 
of Beardmore Glacier, Atkinson and his four companions spent 
Christmas Day in the vicinity of Cloudbreaker Mountain, where 
they collected a number of valuable geological specimens. 

The return of Lieutenant Evans, accompanied by Lashley and 
Crean, was made rapidly and without unusual incidents until Jan- 
uary 9th, when they were attacked by a very severe blizzard, which 
considerably delayed them. In order therefore to make their rations 
last they headed their course direct for Mt. Darwin Depot, which 
necessitated their crossing Shackleton's Ice Falls at the head of 
Beardmore Glacier. By this means they saved a day's march. 
Descending the glacier they rode on their sledge the greater part 
of the way, and by this means made good progress, except that they 
were frequently upset. These minor incidents, however, were of no 
consequence, and the party succeeded in reaching the relatively flat 
surface at the foot of Shackleton's Ice Falls on January 17th. 

When the party reached latitude 80 degrees 43 minutes. Lieu- 
tenant Evans was attacked by the dreaded scurvy. Lashley and 
Crean exerted themselves to the utmost to assist their companion^ 
but notwithstanding this it was necessary for him to continue in 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 19 

the work of dragging the sledge owing to the smallness of the party. 
The seriousness of his condition increased daily, until, when One 
Ton Camp was reached, 136 miles from Discovery Hut, he was 
unable to stand without support. With all the symptoms of 
advanced scurvy, Evans continued to struggle onward for four days, 
during which the party covered fifty-three miles, which was a most 
remarkable performance considering the man's serious condition. 
Here his companions cached every item of their equipment which 
was not absolutely necessary for their b.are existence. Then with 
Evans on the sledge, well wrapped up in furs, they put forth heroic 
efforts to proceed with this load. They advanced slowly until they 
reached Corner Camp on February 17th, where the uninterrupted 
fall of snow made it absolutely necessary to stop, as Lashley and 
Crean with their united efforts, could barely move the sledge. 

What followed well illustrates the noble character of the 
stricken man's companions. As Evans' condition continued to grow 
more serious and the food supplies were dwindling, a radical step 
was required. Accordingly Crean started out alone to walk the 
thirty miles' distance to Discovery Hut, while Lashley stayed with 
Evans to nurse the sick man. To Lashley's faithfulness and skillful 
nursing Lieutenant Evans owes his life. Crean covered the thirty 
miles to Discovery Hut in eighteen hours in a much exhausted con- 
dition. Here he found Dr. Atkinson and Dimitri with two dog 
teams. Immediately a very severe blizzard started, but waiting for 
only the worst of the storm to pass, Atkinson and Dimitri started 
with all possible haste to the rescue of Evans and Lashley. Helped 
by the dog teams, they succeeded by an all night march in reaching 
Evans and Lashley with the fresh food so much needed by the sick 
man. With only a short rest for the dogs, the four rnen returned to 
Discovery Hut, from which after a week's rest Evans was carried 
on a sledge to the "Terra Nova." 

After much cruising among the ice, during whicH time consid- 
erable scientific work was done, the "Terra Nova" finally set sail on 



20 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

March 5th to spend the winter in New Zealand, and to carry back 
news of the expedition. Even at that date it was only with much 
difficulty that the ship macie its way out of the ice, which was already 
beginning to close in. Akaroa, New Zealand, was finally reached on 
April I St. 

After Lieutenant Evans, Lashley and Crean left Scott on Jan- 
uary 3, 1 91 2, in latitude ^y degrees 49 minutes, the latter, accom- 
panied now only by Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Petty Officer Evans, 
pushed ahead with renewed hopes to cover the remaining 150 miles 
that lay between them and the Pole. The traveling was very diffi'- 
cult, but as their repeated observations showed them they were com- 
ing nearer and nearer their goal, their determination increased. 
Moving at the rate of ten to twelve miles per day, they drew farther 
south until, on January i8th, they reached latitude 90 degrees — from 
which to travel in any direction meant going north ! 

January 17th had been cloudy, with the sun barely discernible. 
The weather cleared the following day, enabling the explorers to 
make their observations more easily and accurately. For this pur- 
pose Captain Scott used a four-inch theodolite, whereas Amundsen 
had used what is known as a sextant with an artificial horizon. 
Scott's observations showed his position to be in latitude 89 degrees 
59/^ minutes. Accordingly the party traveled half a mile further, 
where in latitude 90 degrees they hoisted a British flag to mark the 
location of the Pole. On this extra half-mile march the party found 
the tracks of Amundsen's dogs, and^ following these, they reached 
the tent and records which Amundsen had left. The points located 
respectively by Amundsen and Scott for the South Pole were prac- 
tically the same, being only about one-half mile apart. 

Some time was spent at the Pole taking photographs and mak- 
ing various scientific observations. The temperature was about 
twenty degrees below zero, and the surface of the snow was soft, 
while an analysis of the melting snow showed it to be quite different 
from that found at the barrier. 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 21 

Soon the party, their mission accomplished, turned back toward 
Cape Evans. The journey as far as Beardmoore Glacier was made 
in good time, with marches of as much as eighteen miles a day. 
This was accomplished in spite of the fact that Petty Officer Evans, 
the most rugged man in the party, was in a weak condition and 
had been so since they reached the Pole. He had not materially 
delayed the party until the glacier was reached on the return 
journey, but now his condition aroused some anxiety. The descent 
of the glacier was made with considerable difficulty, owing to the 
very rough surfaces to be traversed. Frequently obstacles ten and 
twelve feet in height had to be surmounted. On one of these 
occasions Evans, in his weakened condition, slipped and fell and 
received a serious concussion of the brain. In consequence the 
progress of the party was considerably retarded, with the result that 
their food supplies dwindled. 

On February 17th Evans stopped to adjust one of his skis which 
had worked loose. His companions kept on going, with the expecta- 
tion that he would soon catch up with them. As he did not do so, 
a halt was made and a meal was cooked pending Evans' arrival. 
When he did not make his appearance by the time the meal was 
ready, Scott and his companions turned back and found Evans in 
the snow totally exhausted. Despite his brave effort to go on, it 
was felt necessary to carry him on a sledge, and in less than two 
hours he was dead. This delay made further inroads, both phy- 
sically and mentally, on the vitality of the party, which now con- 
sisted of Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, Captain Oates and Lieutenant 
Bowers. Their food supplies continued to decrease, and as the late- 
ness of the season made travel even more difficult, their anxiety cor- 
respondingly heightened. The average distance between the depots 
at which they had left food was about sixty-five miles, so that it 
was necessary for them to advance an average of more than nine 
miles a day, which was about the best performance that the men 
had been able to make in their very much better condition over the 
same territory in their trip toward the Pole. 



22 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

At this point a fresh cause for anxiety arose from the condi- 
tion of Captain Oates, whose hands and feet were severely frost- 
bitten owing to the severe temperatures and the terrible, cutting 
winds. His condition grew very serious, and, though he struggled 
on as best he could, he knew, and his companions knew, that he was 
a serious handicap to them. 

On March i6th Oates was absolutely unable to keep up the 
fight any longer, but Scott, Wilson and Bowers refused to desert 
him, and he, on the other hand, was not willing to hold them back. 
What follows Captain Scott recorded in his diary with this tribute 
to Captain Oates: 

"He was a brave soul. He slept through the night, hoping not 
to awake, but he awoke in the morning. It was blowing a blizzard. 
Oates said: 'I am just going outside and may be some time.* He 
went out into the blizzard, and we have not seen him since." 

Further on Captain Scott writes : 

''We knew that Oates was walking to his death, but, though 
we tried to persuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man 
and an English gentleman." 

On the party struggled over the bad surface. The persistent 
winds and the frequently occurring blizzards would have taxed the 
strength of strong men. To Scott, Wilson and Bowers, in their 
exhausted condition and with their short rations and lack of suf- 
ficient fuel, progress was almost impossible. Still they would not 
give up, until, on March 21st, an unusually severe blizzard forced 
the party to make camp in latitude 79 degrees 40 minutes south, in 
longitude 169 degrees 27, minutes east, at a point only eleven miles 
from One Ton Camp, where they would have found abundant food 
and fuel. Here, with salvation almost within reach, they were 
compelled to remain in their tent, having only food enough for two 
days and fuel for one hot meal. 

The end had come. They had no weapons with which to con- 
tinue the fight. Their food and fuel were exhausted. Their vitality 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 23 

was gone. Even hope was gone. Scott wrapped Dr. Wilson and 
Lieutenant Bowers, half unconscious, in their sleeping bags and 
sat down to write in his diary for the last time. This is what he 
wrote ; 

"Message to the Public. 

"The causes of this disaster are not due to faulty organization, 
but to misfortune in all the risks which had to be undertaken. 

"One, the loss of the pony transport in March, 191 1, obliged 
me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits of the 
stuff transported to be narrowed. 

"The weather throughout the outward journey, and. especially 
the long gale in 83 degrees south, stopped us. The soft snow in 
the lower reaches of the glacier again reduced the pace. 

"We fought these untoward events with a will and conquered, 
but it ate into our provision reserve. 

"Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depots made 
on the interior ice sheet on that long stretch of 7000 miles to the 
Pole and back worked out to perfection. 

"The advance party would have returned to the glacier in fine 
form and with a surplus of food but for the astonishing failure of 
the man whom we had least expected to fail. Seaman Edgar Evans 
was thought the strongest man of the party, and the Beardmore 
Glacier is not difficult in fine weather ; but on our return we did not 
get a single fine day. This, with a sick companion, enormously 
increased our anxieties. 

"I have said elsewhere that we got into frightfully rough ice, 
and Edgar Evans received a concussion of the brain. He died a 
natural death, but left us a shaken party, with the season unduly 
advanced. 

"But all the facts enumerated were as nothing to the surprise 
which awaited us on the barrier. I maintain that our arrangements 
for returning were quite adequate and that no one in the world 



24 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

would have done better in the weather which we encountered at 
this time of the year. On the summit, in latitude 85 degrees to 86 
degrees, we had minus 20 to minus 30. On the barrier, in latitude 
82 degrees, 10,000 feet lower, we had minus 30 in the day and minus 
47 at night pretty regularly, with continuous head winds during 
our day marches. 

"It is clear that these circumstances came on very suddenly, 
and our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe 
weather, which doesn't seem to have had any satisfactory cause. 

"I do not think human beings ever came through such a month 
as we have come through, and we should have got through in spite 
of the weather but for the sickening of a second companion, Captain 
Oates, and a shortage of fuel in our depots, for which I cannot 
account, and, finally, but for the storm which has fallen on us within 
eleven miles of this depot, at which we hoped to secure the final 
supplies. 

"Surely misfortune could scarcely have exceeded this last blow. 

"We arrived within eleven miles of our old One Ton Camp 
with fuel for one hot meal and food for two days. For four days 
we have been unable to leave the tent, the gale blowing about us. 

"We are weak. 

"Writing is difficult ; but for my own sake I do not regret this 
journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, 
help one another and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever 
in the past. We took risks. We knew we took them. Things have 
come out against us, and, therefore, we have no cause for complaint, 
but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best 
to the last. 

"But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, 
which is for the honor of our country, I appeal to our countrymen 
to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for. Had 
we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance 
and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart 
of every Englishman. 



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THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 25 

"These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but 
surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who 
are dependent on us are properly provided for. 

"R. SCOTT. 

"March 25, 1912." 

Efforts had not been wanting on the part of those at Cape 
Evans to carry help to Scott and his companions. As they had not 
made their appearance as expected, efforts were made to find them. 

The first relief party, composed of Garrard, a geologist, and 
Dimitri, a Russian dog driver, went out at the end of February. 
On March 3d Garrard and Dimitri reached One Ton Camp, but had 
to return on March loth because of the poor condition of the dogs, 
lack of dog food and the awful weather. Captain Scott then was 
within 60 miles, or possibly 40 miles, of the relief party. Surgeon 
Atkinson and Keokane then made a short journey to Corner Camp 
and returned, "realizing they could be of no assistance." 

The approach of the winter season made impossible further 
eft'orts to relieve Scott, but on October 30th, the Western Party hav- 
ing returned, a new searching party left Cape Evans in two 
divisions. The party, with Surgeon Atkinson in command, soon 
reached One Ton Camp, from which they proceeded along the old 
southern route, and on November 12th they sighted Captain Scott's 
tent. 

Inside were found the bodies of the three heroes — Captain 
Scott, Dr. Wilson and Lieutenant Bowers. To the end they had 
carried all of their records with them, as was discovered by the 
searching party. Wilson and Bowers were found in their sleeping 
bags, where Captain Scott had placed them, while Scott was sitting 
upright against the pole of the tent with his diary behind his head, 
as if for a pillow. 

Surgeon Atkinson read the burial service over the bodies and, 
after gathering together the records and effects of the dead men, 



26 THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 

erected a cairn of snow and a cross over the tent in which the bodies 
were left buried. The cross bears the following inscription : 



"This cross and cairn erected over the remains of Cap- 
tain R. F. Scott, C. V. O., R. N. ; Dr. E. A. Wilson and 
Lieutenant H. H. Bowers, S. R. N., as a slight token to 
perpetuate their gallant and successful attempt to reach 
the Pole. This they did on the i8th of January, 191 2, after 
the Norwegians had already done so on the 14th of Decem- 
ber, 191 1. 

"Also to commemorate their two gallant comrades, 
Captain R. E. G. Gates, of the Inniskilling Dragoons, who 
walked to his death in the blizzard willingly about 20 miles 
south of the place to try and save his comrades beset by 
hardship, and Petty Officer Edgar Evans, who died at the 
foot of the Beardmore glacier. 

"The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away. Blessed 
be the name of the Lord." 



Atkinson and his party then continued southward in search 
of the body of Captain Gates, which, however, they were unable to 
find. Locating the approximate spot described by Captain Scott in 
his diary as the place at which Gates perished, they erected 
this inscription: 



THE SCOTT EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC FATE 27 



Hereabout died 

A Very Gallant Gentleman, 

CAPT. R. E. G. GATES, 

Inniskilling Dragoons, 

Who on the return from the Pole, in 

March, 19 12, wilHngly walked to his 

death in a blizzard to try and save 

his comrades beset by hardships. 



The party then returned to Cape Evans, where they were 
picked up by the "Terra Nova," which returned to New Zealand 
on February 11, 191^. 



CHAPTER II 

Robert F. Scott, Antarctic Martyr 

CAPTAIN ROBERT FALCON SCOTT, R.N., C.V.O., the 
intrepid Antarctic explorer who reached the South Pole 
thirty-five days after Roald Amundsen, but was lost, together 
with his party of four, in the endeavor to get back to civilization, 
was a man born to lead. He was a man of great physical strength, 
fearless, with a striking personality that exuded vitality and 
strength, yet one felt that he was a man of caution. He was never 
impetuous or headstrong, having too much consideration and sym- 
pathy to take unnecessary risks. If occasion demanded it, however^ 
he would take any risk to attain his looked-for end. Captain Scott 
was a sailor, and one of the best type that the British navy has ever 
produced. 

Captain Scott was born at Devonport, the famous naval station 
on the south coast of England, on June 6, 1868. He was the son of 
Edward Scott, and was educated at Stubbington House, Forham. 
At the age of fourteen he entered the British navy. 

While a cadet on board the training ship he showed signs of 
leadership and was chosen as one of the five captains of his time from 
among sixty boys. These captains were the ones who proved them- 
selves the most popular and efficient as leaders at sports. On leaving 
the "Britannia" he was sent to the Cape of Good Hope Station and 
from there returned after three years, tall, strong and manly, having 
outgrown all his clothes. His next station was in the Pacific, and 
from there he returned a lieutenant in the service, ready qualified to 
take up a special course of training, for which he chose torpedo work. 
After completely qualifying, he was again appointed to one ship 

(28) 



ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 29 

after another, pursuing the usual course that is followed by men of 
his standing. 

When he had been eight years a lieutenant, and had gained 
his extra stripe, he was appointed torpedo-lieutenant on the 
"Majestic," a first-class battleship. Here he was among men of the 
highest promise in the Navy and was associated with a group of 
keen Arctic explorers, men who had served under Sir Leopold Mac- 
Clintock in the expedition to accomplish the Northwest Passage. 
A short time after Captain Scott's appointment, Captain Egerton, 
later Sir George Egerton, succeeded Prince Battenbtirg as captain 
of the '"'Majestic." He was very much in sympathy with all explora- 
tion work and the glamour of the North had always clung to him, so 
that he was an enthusiast on the subject. 

Here came the turning point in Captain Scott's career in a truly 
romantic manner. Captain Scott's family was at this time in very 
great trouble. Several deaths and the loss of money had left him 
the oldest, and now the only, son in a position of having to help his 
people. He rose nobly to the responsibility, as he has always risen 
to it, and knowing well that a lieutenant's pay in the Royal Navy left 
no margin on which to support his family, he went to London to 
see by what means he could augment it and generally better matters. 

Strolling along the streets of London, he met by chance that 
great old man, Sir Clements Markham, at this time chairmian of the 
Royal Geographical Society. Sir Clements recognized Captain 
Scott as a midshipman in whom, he had always been very much 
interested when he had stayed on his cousin's (Admiral Markham's) 
ship, and greeted him with great warmth. Sir Clements' great desire 
was to organize an expedition to explore the unknown Antarctic 
Continent. This object he had materialized at this time to the extent 
that a ship was being constructed to be called the "Discovery" for 
the purpose of ice exploration, and the scientific staff was being 
appointed. 

Sir Clements, like all men who have an intimate knowledge of 



30. ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 

the Royal Navy, was anxious to have a navy man in command of 
the ship, and had been promised one by the Admiralty, when by 
chance he met Captain Scott, or as he then was, Lieutenant Scott. 
He impetuously seized his arm, and while strolling along, unfolded 
his plans and urged Captain Scott to apply for the post. The latter 
demurred as he had no leaning to work of that character. How- 
ever, to find a well-paid job was necessary, and one that did not inter- 
fere with his naval career was desirable. On the ground that one 
name added to the list of applicants would not matter, he sent his 
in with little or no hope of being successful. To his great astonish- 
ment he was chosen.' He had every qualification, was of the right 
age, just 29, a healthy, strong, well-built man, standing 5 feet 9 
inches, and had had no worse illness than an attack of measles at 17 
and a touch of Maltese fever. He was just the man to undertake 
the strenuous work of such a position. 

He now entered on what was the real work of his life, to pre- 
pare for the conquest of the Antarctic. He had a year's work of 
preparation. This was one of the hardest years in Captain Scott's 
life. It meant mostly office-work in London, a place abhorred by 
healthy sailors, men who crave fresh air and exercise. It was, how- 
ever, one of the most important parts of the expedition, for on it 
largely depended success or failure in the future. Captain Scott 
set to it with the vigor and judgment he afterwards proved to 
possess to such a very great extent. He had now begun to be 
enthusiastic over the idea and what had been to him such a short 
time before an undreamed of scheme became a living reality. He 
set to work with a will to master all the details of planning such an 
expedition for three years, and of preparing the outfit for the voy- 
age and for the landing parties. 

He had a more difficult task still, namely, to settle on his stafif. 
To the experienced explorer this is a sufficiently arduous task, but 
much more so to the young naval officer who had very little experi- 
ence. He was given much well-meant and good advice, tendered 



ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 31 

on all sides by young and old, expressed by able and intellectual 
men, but had to sift all this for himself. The trying difficulties were 
increased at this time by the fact that a leader had been appointed 
for the expedition, a very able scientist quite unaccustomed to explo- 
ration, who had been chosen to direct landing operations and the 
whole affairs of the expedition. This left Captain Scott as a cipher 
on the ship he commanded, to go when and where a non-nautical 
man directed, a position, of course, untenable for Captain Scott. 
The Royal Geographical Society, who number so many Arctic 
explorers among their members, saw the force of this argument 
and finally declared that Captain Scott must take supreme com- 
mand, as he was responsible for the safety of the men and the ship. 
This led to the retirement of the scientist. From now on prepara- 
tions went more smoothly, but they still required a sixteen-hour 
working day for the leader. 

It was not an easy task to choose men with whom one had to 
live in closest fellowship for three years. The Admiralty were gen- 
erous and allowed three of its officers, in addition to the leader, and 
twenty blue jackets and petty officers to join the expedition. These 
were mostly men who had sailed in the same ship with Captain Scott 
and were known by him. Thus he was able to assemble a staff who 
proved themselves in every way worthy of his choice by their 
achievements and characters, while he demonstrated his capacity 
for judging men. The last month was devoted to the final fitting 
out of the "Discovery," with all the necessary equipment for a stay 
of three years in the Antarctic, far from any kind of civilization. 

At the time when Captain Scott first went to the Antarctic 
regions in 1900, it was not known that any food of any kind could 
be obtained there. This he found later was not the case. Seals^ 
penguins and gulls provided good, fresh food. On June 28, 1900, 
the expedition was ready to start from the Thames. The ship had a 
very enthusiastic send-off, and as one watched the leader standing 
on the bridge while the ship slowly made her way from the East 



32 ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 

India dock, one realized that the boyish young face meant work^ 
and if humanly possible, success also. The "Discovery," a wooden 
whaler built for the expedition, made its way to Portsmouth and 
Cowes. 

The honors now began to come to Captain Scott. His ship 
was honored by King Edward and Queen Alexandria, during which 
the leader was given a decoration by his majesty, being made a 
member of the Victorian Order. On the morning of August 5th, 
a windy, sunny day, a start was made for New Zealand, amid a 
following crowd of yachts and boats, all dipping their pennants, as 
the ship sailed on its way to the Southern seas. In spite of many 
difficulties the ship arrived safely at Cape Town, where Captain 
Scott had to show his character as leader by weeding out some of 
the members of the crew. There had been a case of insubordination 
on board during the voyage south, as the result of which Captain 
Scott dismissed the offender and wired to the Society that he had 
done so. This was an unexpected proceeding on his part as the 
offender was a man picked by the Royal Geographical Society for 
his knowledge of ice work. 

Captain Scott now advertised for some one to replace the dis- 
missed man, and had several hundred applications from the blue 
jackets in the ffeet stationed at Cape Town where Scott was already 
well known as a smart officer and a good man to follow. From 
there the ship went on to New Zealand having to rough it in the ter- 
rible 40's. 

At New Zealand, Captain Scott again had to make a change 
in his crew, but as before, was met with generous help from the 
Admiralty, so that on December i, 1900, he had what he most 
desired, namely, his ship manned almost entirely by blue jackets 
accustomed to naval discipline, fine men who were to be thoroughly 
depended on. These, with the very able scientific staff, brought the 
ship's complement up to forty. 

The two years which followed were full of adventures and 



ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 33 

manifold hardships, not the least of which was the close chance 
of death by starvation many times and innumerable narrow escapes 
from other perils. Sailing from New Zealand on Christmas Eve, 
1901, the "Discovery" ran down to the barrier, which Borchgre- 
vink's expedition had noted thirty miles south of where it was 
recorded by the Ross expedition in 1842. Scott confirmed Borch- 
grevink's findings, but Scott discovered, where Ross had noted only 
an "appearance," a wide stretch of country, which he named King 
Edward VII Land. Scott explored more than 400 miles of the 
Great Antarctic Barrier, a wider stretch than any other Antarctic 
explorer. 

The "Discovery" was laid up in McMurdo Sound, in latitude 
yy degrees 49 minutes south, and longitude 166 east, and explora- 
tion was started on sledges. The outward journey of 380 miles to 
latitude 82 degrees and 17 minutes south occupied fifty-nine days. 
A little further south two peaks. Mount Markham and Mount Long- 
stafif, named after the chief promoters of the expedition, were 
sighted. On November 30, Captain Scott covered a distance of 
300 miles westward from the ship, reaching latitude yy degrees 59 
minutes south, and longitude 146 degrees 33 minutes east. 

On Christmas Day, Captain Scott returned to the "Discov- 
ery," and on January 5, 1904, the "Terra Nova," the ship with which 
Captain Scott made his latest Antarctic expedition, arrived, with 
orders for an immediate return, even at the cost of abandoning the 
"Discovery." The expedition ship, however, broke loose from the 
ice on February 16, and Captain Scott had the satisfaction of tak- 
ing her home in good order. 

On his return to England, Captain Scott became the hero of 
the hour with honors showered on him from all over the world. It 
was at this time that he received his rank as captain, and the day 
after his promotion he was raised to be Commander of the Victorian 
Order by King Edward. From that time on he was the daily recipi- 
ent of medals, diplomas, letters and congratulations from every 



34 ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 

European country. He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society. The gold medals of the Royal Geographical 
Society, the Scottish Royal Geographical Society, and the Amer- 
ican, Swedish, Danish, Philadelphia and Antwerp Geographical 
Societies were also conferred on him for this expedition. The 
Universities of Manchester and Cambridge conferred on him the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Science. He has been known as a 
keen explorer, a scientist and an admirable leader, a man who always 
conducted his expeditions with the spirit of a sportsman and who 
never permitted his ambition to cloud his judgment. As a con- 
sequence, his expeditions were never marred by the bickering that 
has disgraced so many Arctic and Antarctic ventures. 

Not even when Sir Ernest Shackleton, who was a subordinate 
officer in the "Discovery" expedition of 1901, made use of all he 
had learned under Scott in an independent expedition toward the 
South Pole, did Scott express jealousy of the mark of farthest south 
set up by Shackleton, though much of the success was due to him. 
Instead, he heartily congratulated the younger man, and waited 
until Shackleton had announced that he was out of the arena before 
he came forward with his own announcement that he would make 
another try for the Pole himself. 

Those who knew Scott say that the bad feeling toward Captain 
Roald Amundsen, on the occasion of his discovery of the South 
Pole, which was displayed in England in 191 2, would never have 
been tolerated or countenanced by Scott. He asked no favors from 
any man. All he wanted was a fair chance to do what he set out 
to do, and if any man could do it better than he, he was willing 
that the other man should have the credit. Quiet, well poised, slow 
of speech and somewhat retiring in disposition, he was a man in 
whom other men instinctively reposed trust, who av^s looked up to 
by his associates and who never found difficulty in getting men to 
follow him to the death. 

In the wardrooms of many a British ship to-day the men who 



ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 35 

sit about the mess tables will tell stories of "Bob" Scott and of 
things he did in the old days when he was a midshipman on the 
"Rover," or later, perhaps, on others of the King's ships. 

In 1909 he turned his attention to the raising of funds to fit out 
another expedition, and this proved an almost superhuman task. 
However, with his usual perseverance he succeeded in raising suffi- 
cient money to justify the purchase of the "Terra Nova," the whaler 
that had already braved the Antarctic Seas when she went south in 
company with the "Morning" to the relief of the "Discovery," in 
1902. Many people came forward with generous aid, but the task 
of collecting money for any scheme is not an easy one, and to a man 
of Captain Scott's temperament, whose dislike for publicity was 
strong, begging even for the cause of science, was abhorred. It 
had to be done, however, if funds were to be raised, and so putting 
self aside, he started to work. The result was to enable him to start 
south in 19 10 with the best fitted expedition that ever embarked for 
the perilous Antarctic shores. 

The immense confidence which Captain Scott inspired in his 
followers may be judged by the fact that all except three of his old 
party again volunteered to accompany him, and in the formation of 
the expedition he had more than 1,000 volunteers. It required all 
his judgment to select the fittest men. 

The death of Captain Scott and the four men who went with 
him to the South Pole has shown the world that, in this age of sup- 
posed materialism, men of the Anglo-Saxon fibre still go to meet 
death unafraid, as one lies down to sleep and peaceful dreams. 
There is in Scott's last message no wail of despair, no word of com- 
plaint, only the prayer for protection for the widowed and the fath- 
erless on the other side of the world. Yet that message was written 
when two of the five explorers were dead, and the writer and the 
two others were dying on a desolate plain in a blizzard, knowing 
that they were within eleven miles of plenty. The tortures of 
Tantalus were nothing compared with that. 



36 ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 

Captain Scott writes with a hand and a mind as unshaken as 
though this were an address to be deUvered before the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society. "These rough notes and our dead bodies must 
tell the tale." It is not rhetorical fustian, the orator's swelling 
period, when he sets down with his cramped and stiffening fingers : 
"But for my own sake, I do not regret this journey, which has 
shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another and 
meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past." 

There at home was a little boy, too young when the father left 
to understand, putting little flags in a map and eagerly asking ques- 
tions of his mother. When she started for New Zealand to meet 
England's hero and her own, the little boy said, "Mother has gone 
to bring him home, and then I am going to meet him at the station." 

One thinks of men and women in gilded pleasure halls eating 
and drinking and making merry — one thinks of all the oblivious 
gaiety and the selfish cynicism of the epicure — and then in sharp 
and poignant contrast there comes a vision of a wide gray, dreary 
plain, and four men staggering, stumbling, pitching their forlorn 
bit of canvas, huddled under it and dying there, with the sleety blast 
wailing a dirge above them, instead of the organ in the cathedral, 
and the snow falling where there is no earth to cover even a fallen 
hero. And eight months later other men come and find them there, 
and the world speaks of them for a flitting hour and returns to its 
fleshpots and its foibles, its gossip and its interrupted games. But 
here and there, it may be, there is one who will remember the wife 
and child at home. 

By his modesty no less than by his resolution Captain Scott had 
endeared himself alike to those who had served with him and to the 
public at large, and in the grief that his death has occasioned there 
is the personal note of sorrow far beyond the perfunctory mourn- 
ing when "great kings return to clay, or emperors in their pride." 

In 1908 Captain Scott married Miss Kathleen Bruce, daugh- 
ter of the late Canon Lloyd Bruce. Mrs. Scott is a sculptor of some 



ROBERT F. SCOTT, ANTARCTIC MARTYR 37 

repute. They have a fascinating son, Peter, who is the image of 
his father in looks, with ail his health, vitality and intellect so f-ar 
as one can judge in such a small person. When Captain Scott sailed 
on the "Terra Nova" the child was only eight months old. His 
first baby idea was to hug and cover up a photograph. "Keep Daddy 
warm," he said. After this, need any more be said about all Cap- 
tain Scott has foregone to attain his object of conquering the South- 
ern Hemisphere and rescuing some of its secrets from it? 



CHAPTER III 

First at the South Pole: The Thrilling Story of 
the Amundsen Expedition 

NEARLY four hundred years have passed since the first 
recorded expedition set sail for the exploration of the Arctic 
regions, and more than one hundred and forty years have 
elapsed since the Antarctic circle was first penetrated. Taking into 
account the innumerable voyages that have been made into polar 
regions in this long period of time, the persistence, daring and skill 
of the explorers, and the financial and scientific support which they 
had behind them, one is able to form some idea of the almost insur- 
mountable barriers that lay in the way of those heroic adventurers 
who have undertaken to gain the extremities of the earth. From 
this point it is easy to appreciate the elation and satisfaction with 
which the world received the news that, within three years after 
Admiral (then Lieutenant-Commander) Robert E. Peary discov- 
ered the North Pole, Captain Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian 
explorer, had succeeded in planting the flag of his country on the 
South Pole. This news was contained in a terse cablegram received 
in Christiania, Norway, by Lean Amundsen, brother of Captain 
Amundsen, on March 7, 1912, reading as follows: 

i "HoBART, Tasmania, 

"Thursday, March 7, 1912. 
"Pole attained, I4th-i7th December, 191 1. All well. 

"Roald Amundsen." 

The Amundsen expedition to the South Pole started out as a 
North Pole expedition. In April, 1909, Amundsen, already famous 

(38) 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 39 

as the first to take a ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean 
by means of the long-sought Northwest Passage and as an explorer 
of the region of the magnetic North Pole, published in the Geo- 
graphical Journal and other papers, exhaustive details of a proposed 
North Pole expedition he was to undertake. 

He left Norway, ostensibly to proceed by way of Cape Horn 
and Bering Strait to the North Polar Basin. The expedition was 
to take seven years. It was reported that he had trained polar bear 
cubs instead of dogs to draw him to the Pole. Suddenly, on arriv- 
ing at Madeira in October, he announced that he had changed his 
plans and was going to do some sailing in the Antarctic. Nothing 
further was heard of him until March 27, 191 1, when news was 
flashed to civilization from Stewart Island by Lieutenant Pennell, 
of the British Antarctic Expedition of Captain R. F. Scott, telling 
that he had come upon Amundsen's ship, the "Fram," in the Bay 
of Whales, where he had landed and set up winter quarters for a 
dash toward the South Pole. 

News from Amundsen himself was received in June, 191 1, in 
a letter dated February 9th, at Framheim, in longitude 164 west, lati- 
tude 78 degrees 40 minutes south. In it he told how, on a dark, 
hot evening in the Fuchal Roadstead, he laid before his expedition 
his plan for extending the programme by an attempt to reach the 
South Pole. As a man, he said, they voted in favor of doing so. 
He made the goal of the voyage the Bay of Whales, which indents 
the great Antarctic barrier in longitude 164 west and latitude 78 
degrees 30 minutes south, a voyage of 16,000 miles from home. 
They expected to reach the barrier by the middle of January. 

The "Fram" was a 400-ton gasoline auxiliary, and probably the 
strongest ship ever built for Polar exploration. She was only 113 
feet long and 36 feet of beam. Her hull was made of four and five 
thicknesses of heavy timber, and at the bow was four feet thick, 
while at the stern three feet. It was in the "Fram" that Nansen 
made his "Farthest North" in 1905. 



40 FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 

On the "Fram" each man had his own separate quarters, which, 
though only six feet square, were comfortable, warm and well 
lighted. A piano in the officers' quarters added to the entertainment 
of the voyage. Amundsen's cabin which was a little larger than the 
others was the same one which Nansen occupied in his voyage on the 
"Fram," and contained maps and plans for use on the trip to the 
Pole. 

A canary which was named Fridtjof, in honor of Nansen, was 
taken along, and remained in good health and song on the "Fram" 
during the whole time. 

The motor power of the boat consisted of an 80 horse-power 
petroleum engine, which proved exceedingly reliable, giving no 
trouble at all during the whole of the journey. 

There were nineteen men aboard the "Fram" when Amund- 
sen determined to try for the South Pole, and neither among them 
nor among his 115 Eskimo dogs was there a single ailment when, 
on better than schedule time, he landed at the edge of the barrier. 
On January ist ice was sighted for the first time. The next day the 
"Fram" crossed the Antarctic Circle and the Antarctic drift was 
before her. The Great Barrier was sighted on January nth, and on 
the following day the Bay of Whales, Amundsen's objective point, 
was reached. A landing place was found on January 14th, and then, 
the 16,000-mile voyage safely accomplished, Amundsen found he 
was a day ahead of his schedule. 

After mooring his ship safely, he set about finding a place for 
wintering, about two and a half kilometers from the ship at the 
foot of a ridge well protected from southeast winds, and on Janu- 
ary 1 6th he began to unload his cargo. It was hard work, but his 
115 dogs, all picked and trained animals from Greenland, went to 
work with a will, and the task was soon accomplished. Three weeks 
later Amundsen described the scene as follows: 

"It is three weeks since we began the building of our station, 
and now everything is ready. The desolate, icy landscape has under- 




MRS. ROBERT F. SCOTT, WIFE OF THE EXPLORER, AND THEIR 

CHILD 

The wife of the Antarctic martyr and her little son, in her studio. Mrs. Scott 
was on the way to welcome her husband when the news of the disaster was given 
to the world. His last words were a plea to the English^nation_to_care for them. 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 41 

gone a great change. The silence is broken. Where formerly only 
a solitary penguin or the track of a seal crossed the height, there 
now lies a little village. Our solidly built little house stands safe 
and secure, sunk four feet down in snow as hard as rock, and sup- 
ported by backstays on all sides. We have given it the name of 
Framheim. Its longitude is about 164 degrees west, its latitude 78 
degrees and 40 minutes south, so that it is probably the most south- 
erly human habitation. Round it are set up fifteen tents large 
enough to accommodate sixteen men each, for the use of the dogs, 
and as storehouses for our provisions, coal, wood, clothing, etc. 
The principal food depot is about a kilometer from the station and 
contains provisions sufficient for two years. Since we came here 
we have lived almost entirely on seal meat, and would not exchange 
seal stew for any dish in the world. There are a great number of 
seals here, and we shall soon have prepared enough both for our- 
selves and our dogs for the winter. 

"In a few days the Tram' will be ready to leave us. She goes 
north with greetings and messages and we shall begin our journey 
toward the south. It is my intention to lay down a main depot in 80 
degrees latitude, and a smaller one as far south as possible, and T 
hope that with the excellent means at our disposal we shall get to 
83 degrees with the smaller depot as early as the autumn, before the 
dark season sets in. I can say nothing more with respect to our 
future prospects. We shall do what we can." 

Amundsen's plan was for the "Fram" to return to the Ant- 
arctic to pick up the explorers in October, 191 1, which was the month 
in which Captain Scott of the British Antarctic Expedition had orig- 
inally intended to start his dash toward the South Pole. Captain 
Scott's ship, the "Terra Nova," found the "Fram" in the Bay of 
Whales on February 4, 191 1, when the Norwegian shore party of 
eight men and 115 dogs had not yet started their march south, but 
were presumably about to begin it. 

On February 10, 191 1, the party began the heavy task of mov- 



42 FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 

ing their supplies inland as far as possible for the establishment of 
depots on their path to the South Pole. At latitude 80 degrees, 
Amundsen established the first of these depots where he deposited 
about 1,600 kilos of provisions, a kilo being equivalent to a trifle 
more than half of a pound. This included 1,100 kilos of seal meat. 

In latitude 81 degrees the second depot was established, where 
700 kilos of provisions were cached, while the third depot at latitude 
82 degrees was supplied with 800 kilos. The work of supplying these 
depots was lightened by the excellent weather which Amundsen and 
his companions encountered and by the good condition in which they 
found the surface of the barrier. On March 4th the party returned 
to the Bay of Whales, where they found that the "Fram" had 
already returned to Australia for the winter. 

Before turning northward the captain had sailed in the "Fram'' 
to a point farther south than had ever been reached by any other 
vessel, thus establishing a unique record in that the same boat, with 
Nansen in 1905, had made the most northerly point of any vessel. 

Everything was then snug for a long, dark winter, and by the 
middle of April the little hut which housed the men was almost 
entirely covered by snow. By the use of a special 200-candle-power 
lamp, with which the expedition was provided, the hut was brilliantly 
lighted and the temperature maintained at about 68 degrees Fahren- 
heit throughout the Avinter. In addition the building was well 
ventilated, so that the men were both comfortably and healthfully 
housed. So well were the arrangements provided for the winter's 
stay that direct communications had been made between the hut and 
workshops, packing rooms, provision cellars, observatories, etc. A 
plain bath and a steam bath were also installed. 

From April 22nd the sun was invisible for four months. This 
time was spent largely in rearranging and simplifying the outfits to 
be carried by the men on the trip south. The snow fall was com- 
paratively little and in other respects the weather conditions were 
good, so that the arrival of the sun on August 24th found Am.undsen 
and his companions in both good spirits and good health. 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE ' 43 

The start south was delayed until the weather became warmer. 
On September 8th a party consisting of eight men, with seven 
sledges drawn by ninety dogs and carrying provisions for four 
months, left for the first depot at latitude 80 degrees. The weather 
was ideal when the party left the winter camp, but the following day 
proved that too early a start had been made, for the weather again 
turned extremely cold, and after going on for a few days it was evi- 
dent that while the men with their heavy clothing could stand the 
cold, it was too much for the dogs, which clearly showed by their 
condition that they were suffering from the low temperature. 
Accordingly the provisions which the party carried were cached and 
the party returned to the winter camp, but not without the loss of a 
few dogs. 

No further efforts were made to reach the depot at latitude 80 
degrees until the appearance of seals and birds in the middle of 
October gave evidence th^t spring had really set in. The tempera- 
ture then varied between 4 degrees and 22 degrees Fahrenheit. 

At this point a material change was made in Amundsen's orig- 
inal plans, so that instead of including all of the eight men of the 
party in the trip south, this number was reduced to five; the other 
three men making a trip eastward to visit King Edward VII. 
Those composing the southern party were Captain Amundsen, 
Helmer Hansen, Oscar Wisting, Severre Hassel and Olaf Bjaaland. 
Hansen is described by Amundsen, as the best dog driver he ever 
saw, while Bjaaland is a most expert ski-runner. 

Finally on October 20th the start was made for the Pole, the 
five men taking four sledges and fifty-two dogs with provisions for 
four months. The early part of the journey was made in easy stages 
in orcier to condition the dogs gradually to their work. The depot 
at latitude 80 degrees was reached in three days. Here the dogs 
were rested until the 26th, when the march was resumed, and on the 
31st the party arrived at the depot at latitude 81 degrees. There 
only one day was spent in rest, and with daily marches of about 



44 FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 

thirty miles the depot at latitude 80 degrees was reached on Novem- 
ber 5th. Here for the last time the dogs were allowed to eat all they 
wished and on November 8th the last of the three depots was left 
behind in Amundsen's advance toward the Pole. 

On the journey to the Pole Amundsen tried a new plan of travel- 
ing fifteen miles in five hours, spending two hours in eating and in 
feeding the dogs, and seventeen hours in rest and sleep. It was 
found, however, that this period of seventeen hours was entirely too 
long for both the dogs and the men. The programme therefore was 
changed to include a fifteen-mile march in about six hours, followed 
by two hours for meals and feeding the dogs, and a six-hour sleep, 
after which the party breakfasted and again took up the march. 
This latter plan proved highly satisfactory in providing the men and 
animals with sufficient rest to keep them in good condition, and at 
the same time accounts for the very rapid progress, averaging 
twenty miles a day, which they made on the journey to the Pole. 

In an endeavor to lighten the sledge loads, smaller depots were 
established at each degree of latitude. From longitude 80 degrees 
to 85 degrees the conditions were ideal. On November 9th the 
party sighted South Victoria Land and the mountain range which 
Shackleton had discovered to the southeast of the Beardmoore 
Glacier. Three days later it was found that the Ross barrier termi- 
nated at latitude 80 degrees south in longitude 163 degrees west, 
where it was met on the one side by the mountains of South Victoria 
Land running southeast, and on the other side by a chain of moun- 
tains running southwest which Amundsen supposed to be the con- 
tinuation of King Edward VII Land. 

At latitude 83 degrees the party suffered a loss through the 
desertion of three of the best dogs, which turned back in search 
of one of their companions that had been killed at latitude 82^ 
degrees. This desertion created considerable anxiety for fear the 
dogs would attack the depots in search for food. It was found, how- 
ever, on the return journey that the depot at latitude 83 degrees 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE ' 45 

was untouched, although fresh dog tracks were seen. At latitude 
82^ degrees it was found that the deserters had eaten the carcass 
of the dog which had been killed, but apparently had touched noth- 
ing else. At the depot at latitude 82 degrees, however, where a 
number of cases of provisions had been cached, the dogs had broken 
open a case of pemmican, and had not only eaten the contents, but 
had also eaten such indigestible articles as leather straps. Here 
also they had found and eaten the carcasses of two other dogs 
which had been killed and left at this station for food on the return 
journey. No further traces of the three deserting dogs were found. 

Latitude 84 degrees was reached on November 13th, and lati- 
tude 85 degrees three days later. Here another depot was made 
where thirty days' provisions were left, Amundsen and his party 
taking forward with them provisions for sixty days. It was now 
necessary to surmount the barrier. The climb was started on 
November i8th and proved to be no easy task, although the first 
part was accomplished much more readily than the latter part, where 
some very steep glaciers were encountered — so steep in fact that it 
was very difficult for the men to use their skis. 

In order to drag the sledges up the glacier it was necessary to 
harness twenty dogs to a sledge, and take the four sledges up in 
two trips. Notwithstanding these difficulties an ascent of 4,500 feet 
was made in two days. On the third day it was necessary to descend 
the great Axel Heiberg's Glacier which lay between the coast moun- 
tains and another chain farther south. On the fourth day a second 
climb was commenceH. Here many detours were necessary in order 
to avoid the crevasses in the ice. These were particularly treacher- 
ous as many of them were closed at the top, and frequently the dogs 
broke through the surface unexpectedly. The end of the hard day's 
work found the party at a height of 5,000 feet, where camp was 
made. From this point the sight was one of impressive majesty. 
On one side was the Fridtjof Nansen Mountain and on the other 
side was the Don Pedro Christopherson Mountain, each about 15,000 



46 FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 

feet high, while at the foot of the glacier which lay before the camp 
was Mount Ole Englstad rising 13,500 feet. Across the glacier 
and up a further ascent of 5,600 feet, the dogs made a remarkable 
trip of over twenty miles in one day. This brought the party to a 
height of 10,600 feet, where bad weather necessitated their stopping 
four days. During this time twenty-four of the dogs were killed 
on account of lightening sledges and to provide food for the remain- 
ing dogs. 

At latitude 843^ degrees, where one of the snow cairns was 
built as a guide post for the return journey, two sky gulls were 
noticed. As the party took up the journey again the gulls flew past 
and alighted on the cairn. 

On November 28th, in a blinding snowstorm which made it 
practically impossible to see ahead, the party continued by dead 
reckoning to latitude 86 degrees, but not without having their faces 
badly frozen. The following day, however, it cleared beautifully, 
and from the foot of the Devil's Glacier, which the party had 
reached, another hazardous climb was made. Three days' work 
was consumed in the ascent of the treacherous surface, which 
brought Amundsen and his companions to the edge of what ap- 
peared like a frozen sea. Progress on this rough surface, to which 
the name of the Devil's Dancing Room was given, was very dif- 
ficult. On December 6th the party reached its greatest height, 
10,750 feet, at a point in latitude 87 degrees 40 minutes. Two days 
later, or on December 8th, the weather again cleared and allowed 
the taking of observations which proved that the dead reckoning 
by which the party had proceeded was entirely accurate. This was 
in latitude 88 degrees 18 minutes 16 6-10 seconds, which brought 
them to the beginning of a perfectly level plateau. 

At Shackleton's farthest point south, 88 degrees 25 minutes, 
the last depot was made and from here the plateau sloped easily 
and smoothly toward the Pole. From this point the surface of 
the plateau, the excellent weather conditions and the splendid con- 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 47 

dition of the dogs and the men made progress easy and rapid. 
Eighty-eight degrees 39 minutes was reached on December 9th; 
88 degrees 56 minutes on December loth; 89 degrees 15 min- 
utes on December nth; 89 degrees 30 minutes on December 
1 2th, and 89 degrees 45 minutes on December 13th. On the 
following morning the party set out with the expectation of 
reaching their goal that day. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
they reckoned that they were at last at the Pole. A stop 
was made and a beautiful silk Norwegian flag was planted on 
the spot. On the 15th a series of observations showed that 
their location was 89 degrees 55 minutes. The remaining dis- 
tance of about five and one-half miles was traveled to bring them 
exactly to 90 degrees south. The i6th and 17th were spent in 
further observations to confirm their position and in exploration of 
the vast plateau, which Amundsen named King Haakon VII 
Plateau. A tent was securely erected over which the Norwegian 
flag and the "Fram" pennant were floated, and this spot was named 
"Poleheim," or "Home of the Pole." 

Captain Amundsen states that there seems to be little limit to 
one's eating powers during a hard sledging journey in the Polar 
regions. While the men were able to indulge in full rations dur- 
ing the whole of the trip to the Pole, this was very different under 
the circumstances from having as much as they could eat. On the 
return journey, however, it was possible for the men to eat their 
fill from the provisions at the depots after passing latitude 86 
degrees. 

Amundsen and his companions were more or less affected by 
the extreme altitude in which a large part of their journey was 
made. The Pole itself is at an elevation of 10,500 feet, and for six 
weeks the explorers were never much below this height, while part 
of the time they reached altitudes of as much as 16,750 feet. As a 
result of the rarity of the atmosphere at these elevations the men, 
at times, experienced considerable difficulty in breathing, especially 
when engaged in hard work. 



48 FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 

The start northward was made on December 17th. Christmas 
Day was celebrated by a hard day's march but with an extra allow- 
ance of biscuits cooked in a porridge. Early in January the vic- 
torious Amundsen, with his elated companions, must have passed 
very close to Captain Scott, who with Wilson, Oates, Bowers and 
Petty Officer Evans was still advancing toward the goal from which 
Captain Amundsen was returning. The excellent weather and sur- 
face conditions made Captain Amundsen's return journey easier 
than the trip south, and with an average daily speed of about 
twenty-two miles, the winter quarter at "Framheim" were reached 
on January 25, 1912, with two sledges and eleven dogs. 

When Amundsen and the others went aboard the "Fram," they 
left their winter camp in perfect order, with fuel in the stove ready 
to be lighted, the lamps filled and the table set, A good supply of 
food was also left in the depot to give aid to any explorers who 
might be in need of it. The house was securely closed, so that no 
damage was anticipated from the missing dogs. 

Amundsen's chief reason for leaving the hut in this prepared 
condition was his belief that the Japanese Expedition, which was 
already encamped on the barrier when the "Fram" turned home- 
ward, would likely pass in the neighborhood of his winter camp. 

The Eastern party, on leaving the winter camp shortly after 
Amundsen, traveled south to latitude 80 degrees in the track of the 
Pole party, but at this point they turned to the east for a distance 
of sixty miles. Here they reached Cape Colbeck, and from there 
traveled northward 120 miles without sighting land. 

At latitude 78 degrees, however, they were able to confirm 
Scott's description of the boundary of King Edward VII Land. 
Here they ascended 1,000 feet in fifteen miles, and on November 
24th came in sight of Ross Sea, which they found navigable in spite 
of the drifting ice. 

The party then went seventy miles to the northeast where they 
came to the bare rocks, 1,500 feet in height, which Captain Scott 



FIRST AT THE SOUTH POLE 49 

had described. Here also they saw the Alexandra Mountains, 
named by Scott, consisting of low hills to the eastward. From this 
point they returned to the winter camp on the Bay of Whales^ 
which they reached on January nth, two weeks before the return 
of Amundsen and the southern trip. 

On board the "Fram" they left the Bay of Whales on January 
9th and reached Port Hobart, Tasmania, on March 7th, bringing 
with them some splendid geological collections from King Edward 
VII Land and South Victoria Land as trophies of their successful 
expedition, which beside resulting in the attainment of the South 
Pole, had established a number of other important geographical 
results, such as the determination of the extent and character of 
the Ross Barrier and the discovery of the connection of South Vic- 
toria Land and probably King Edward VII Land. 



CHAPTER IV 

Roald Amundsen, Intrepid Discoverer of the 

South Pole 

ROALD AMUNDSEN, who was only in his fortieth year when 
he discovered the South Pole, has long been considered one 
of the most competent of the Northern explorers. He is the 
first and only man so far to accomplish the long-attempted feat of 
taking a ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean by way of the 
Northwest Passage, which is the route Columbus was looking for 
when he accidentally found America. Amundsen made, at a point 
within a short distance of the magnetic North Pole, the only set 
of complete polar magnetic observations taken before Peary's dis- 
covery of the North Pole. These achievements were accomplished 
in 1903 and 1905. 

Amundsen was born in Sarpsburg, Norway, on July 16, 1872, 
and in his childhood moved, with his parents, to Christiania. His 
father was Jens Amundsen, a skipper; his mother's maiden name 
was Sahlquist. His parents destined him for the medical profes- 
sion, but after studying medicine for one year at the University of 
Christiania, on the death of his mother, he went to sea at the age 
of nineteen, cruising for several years as a whaler and sealer on 
Norwegian vessels. 

Captain Amundsen is of more than average height, and while 
not heavily built, is broad-shouldered and very strong. His face 
has more of the characteristics of a student than of a sailor and 
explorer. His nose is aquiline and his hair is light and heavily 
traced with gray. His most notable feature is his small, piercing, 
blue eyes, which give a clue to the indomitable courage and per- 
sistence of the man. He has never married. 

(50) 



ROALD AMUNDSEN, DISCOVERER OF THE SOUTH POLE 51 

He had his first real taste of exploration when, in 1897, he 
went as an officer with the ''Belgica" on Gerlach's Belgian South 
Polar expedition. It was this trip, which lasted from 1897 to 1899, 
that filled him with aspirations to make discoveries in Arctic 
regions, and especially to re-locate the north magnetic pole and to 
discover the long-sought Northwest Passage. First he decided to 
prepare himself by studying two years in Hamburg under Neu- 
mayer, the expert on magnetism, and finally at Wilhelmshafen 
under Borgen in the Meteorological station. 

Then he proceeded to raise the modest funds for his expedition. 
A large part of the $30,000 was Amundsen's own money. Fridtjof 
Nansen, the Norwegian polar explorer, a close friend of Amundsen, 
helped him raise another part. 

Amundsen was finally able to put out from Christiania in the 
"Gjoa" on June 17, 1903, with a total company of six men, the second 
in command being Lieutenant Godfrey Hansen, of the Danish 
navy. His ship was a seventy-five foot, forty-seven ton Norwegian 
sealing sloop, of which the cabin was only nine by six feet, and 
which was fitted with a petroleum engine of thirty-nine horse-power 
for use in calm weather. 

Amundsen sailed around the north end of America, reaching 
the mouth of the Mackenzie River about September 3, 1905, and 
then passed through Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound, and worked 
his way dow^n the west side of Boothia Felix in August, and took 
up winter quarters in Gjoa Harbour at the head of Petersen Bay 
in King William Land. Here the little vessel remained for two 
years while magnetic and meteorological observations were carried 
out, and sledging excursions were made to the magnetic pole and 
along the coasts of Victoria Land, which was charted up to 72 
degrees north. In August, 1905, the "Gjoa" proceeded westward 
along the American coast, but was frozen in ofif King Point for 
a third winter. On the nth of July, 1906, she got free, and after 
much difficulty with the ice, reached Bering Strait on the 30th of 



52 ROALD AMUNDSEN, DISCOVERER OF THE SOUTH POLE 

August and entered the Pacific, the first ship to pass from ocean to 
ocean north of Patagonia. 

The Northwest Passage trip brought Amundsen great renown, 
but soon afterward he turned his thoughts toward the North Pole, 
and announced his plan of drifting around the polar sea. He re- 
ceived strong backing from his countrymen, King Haakon, of 
Norway, heading the list of subscribers in support of his project. 

The character of the man was lumxinously shown by his gen- 
erous attitude toward his English rival, Scott, which he displayed 
even before the latter's untimely death was known, and which was 
in gratifying contrast to the jealousy that other explorers have 
sometimes felt and expressed toward those who might appear as 
claimants for a share of their hard-earned glory. The spirit of the 
man of science ought to be that of the musician who was sufficiently 
large-minded to say of a fellow artist, "We are not rivals; we are 
both artists." Amundsen uttered not merely the opinion, but the 
hope, that Scott reached the Pole as well as his own party. "I most 
sincerely hope he did arrive there, for he well deserves success." 
He also said, 'Tt is exceedingly likely that Captain Scott did reach 
the Pole later, if not sooner, than myself." 

Amundsen was criticised as lacking in the spirit of fair play, 
at least of sportsmanship, when he suddenly altered the course of 
his North Pole journey and directed the prow of the sturdy "Fram" 
to the opposite extremity of the globe. But the reason is plain. 
Word had come of Peary's achievement. That prize was taken. 
The Norwegian saw no reason why he should not make a long detour 
into the Antarctic zone, which is not the privileged hunting ground 
of any nation or any individual, and afterward go northward again. 
Furthermore, he had spent every crown he could borrow in fitting 
out his expedition. It was necessary for hfm, having staked his 
all, to recoup himself by a profitable venture, and the first attain- 
ment of the South Pole would, from this point of view, be more 
profitable for him than to be second in the "frozen North." Such 



ROALD AMUNDSEN, DISCOVERER OF THE SOUTH POLE 53 

practical considerations may be rejected as unworthy by intellectual 
idealists, but they have to be borne in mind by poor men embarking 
upon ambitious and costly exploring ventures. 

The willingness of Amundsen to share the laurels extended not 
merely to possible rivals in the field, but to those who spent with 
him the hungry and shivering bivouacs on the ice-sheet 10,000 feet 
above the sea. He took all his men with him the whole distance. 
He seems to have thought that there was credit enough to go round, 
and that those who endured the burden and cold of the day and the 
night beside him deserved to stand with him at the goal. The world 
can have nothing but praise and admiration for a man so brave 
and generous. 

In many respects Amundsen stands head and shoulders above 
all other polar explorers. He is one of three who succeeded in 
reaching the earth's axis, and of two who managed to return from 
that goal. He is the only one who has won preeminent fame both 
in the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. As the sole navigator of the 
Northwest Passage, and the only explorer to return alive from 
the South Pole, he occupies an exalted position in history that needs 
nothing to add to its altitude. 



CHAPTER .V 

Shackleton on the Threshold of the South Pole 

THE year 1909 ranks as a record one in polar research. Early 
in that year the word was flashed north that a daring inves- 
tigator had gone far to rob the far south of its mystery, 
approaching almost within touching distance of the South Pole. 
And in September of that year was flashed south still more start- 
ling news, to the effect that two equally daring investigators had 
knocked at the door of the far north, and stood upon the spot where 
the North Pole should penetrate the earth, if there were any visible 
form to this geographical figment. 

We are here concerned with the first of these discoveries, that 
relating to the South Pole. That both these extremities of the 
earth's axis would before long be reached was as certain as an}^^- 
thing could be. For a generation explorers had been approaching 
the North Pole step by step, learning the best methods and the neces- 
sary equipment for the enterprise, and tracing the most suitable 
starting place. The problem had reached that stage in which a bold 
dash was alone needed for its completion. 

In the south progress towards the Pole had been much slower. 
Not until the closing years of the nineteenth century had a human 
foot been set on the land adjoining the polar region. But important 
discoveries had been made. There was much reason to believe that 
a continental area of land surrounded the Pole, instead of an ocean 
of water, as seemed the case in the north. This, if it should prove 
a fact, would vitally change the conditions. The ice ridges and 
open leads of water which formed the great difficulty in the north 

(54) 



SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 55 

could not exist on a land surface, and though this might present 
difficulties of its own, those which troubled the north polar explorer 
would not be met. 

There were, doubtless, wide stretches of ice and snow to tra- 
verse, there was a fearfully low temperature to endure, there might 
be mountainous elevations to climb and cross, but the lessons learned 
in the north could be applied in the south, the best kind of Arctic 
dress could be worn, the sleeping-bag could be used, the dog sledge 
could be employed, the most easily carried food could be taken, and 
besides these only pluck and endurance seemed needed to win vic- 
tory in the great battle with the hostile forces of ice and cold. 

The first step in this work was taken by Borchgrevink in 1900, 
in his pioneer sledge journey over the southern ice. He was fol- 
lowed two years later by Captain Scott, whose journey over the ice 
occupied ninety-four days and covered not less than a thousand 
miles. With him on this daring excursion was Lieutenant Ernest 
H. Shackleton, like himself an officer of the British Navy, and a 
man of inflexible will and courasre. An instance of this was shown 
on the trip in question, in the latter part of which the three men of 
the party had to take the place of the dogs in pulling the loaded 
sledges. In this severe work Lieutenant Shackleton ruptured a 
blood-vessel, which unfitted him for pulling and even for walking. 
Yet the other two were quite unable to add his weight to the load 
they already had to drag, and if they were to reach the ship alive 
he would have to walk. With heroic determination the brave fel- 
low nerved himself to this painful task, heroically trudging after 
them on foot, and complaining onty that his injury prevented him 
in taking his part in their work. Of such metal as this heroes are 
made. 

Shackleton was not long home before the Antarctic problem 
called him again, and he began to prepare for a south polar expe- 
dition under his own leadership. The experience gained in his 
foi'mer journey was of the greatest value to him and he believed 



A 



S6 SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 

that he had learned the true way to attain the Pole. He proposed, 
as before, to make his final dash with a party of three, and to add 
to the dogs a number of the hardy Manchurian ponies, of which 
ten were taken with him. But the great innovation of his proposed 
journey was the use of a motor car, one especially adapted to rough 
traveling in a cold climate. Having no hummocks or ridges to 
deal with and no open water to cross, he believed that such a car 
could be successfully used, and felt sure that it would add greatly 
to the ease and progress of his journey. King Edward VH Land, 
near the point of Borchgrevink's farthest south in 1900, was se- 
lected by him as a starting point and the expedition set sail in 1907, 
fifteen men composing the party. As in the two former expeditions, 
it was proposed to have the ship land the exploring party at the 
desired locality and return to warmer climes, coming to seek them 
again during the following summer. 

Setting out in the "Nimrod" in 1907, the explorers on reaching 
the Antarctic Seas found themselves subjected to hostile polar 
weather. While seeking a suitable place to land their ship was' 
assailed by fierce winds, through which it labored with difficulty, 
the party suffering great hardship in this encounter. As it proved, 
pack ice prevented the "Nimrod" from reaching King Edward VH 
Land, and they were obliged to seek winter quarters at Cape Royds, 
on Victoria Land, in the vicinity of Mt. Erebus, twenty miles from 
where the "Discovery'' party had wintered. Here their stores, 
implements and animals were unloaded, a terrific blizzard assailing 
them during three days of this time, by which so much sea-water was 
thrown ashore, freezing as it fell, that the stores landed were buried 
in five or six feet of ice. The work of landing completed, the 
"Nimrod" steamed away on February 22, 1908, leaving the little 
party to its winter duties and diversions, if any could be found. 

While the work of preparing for the coming season of cold was 
in progress a party of three, with a supporting party of three more, 
provisioned for ten days, was sent out to try the ascent of Mt. E .*e- 



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SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 57 

bus. After several days of hard climbing, in which a violent wind 
storm added to their difficulties and dangers, the whole six reached 
the summit of the volcano and gazed over the crater's edge. Here 
they found themselves on the lip of a huge and steaming abyss, while 
the air was filled with the fumes of burning sulphur. The steam 
was hurled up in great, globular volumes, preceded by a low, hiss- 
ing sound and then a booming roar. A breeze sweeping away the 
steam for a few minutes, the depth of the crater — eight to nine hun- 
dred feet — lay revealed, while its width seemed about a half mile. 
On the crater's floor the steam puffed upward from three well-like 
openings. 

In their return the party made progress by sliding down the 
ice slopes, traversing five thousand feet in four hours; but their 
clothes were much the worse for this hasty descent. They had 
found the height of the mountain to be 13,350 feet. 

This conquest of Mt. Erebus, whose huge sides had previously 
been ascended only about nine thousand feet, was one of the allevia- 
tions of the long southern winter. Another was the exercising and 
finding the pulling capacities of the ponies, the sledges being loaded 
and drawn two miles daily up and down on the sea-ice. It was found 
that 650 pounds for each pony was the best weight for their pulling 
powers, while the exercise brought them into excellent condition 
for their coming work. The sledges were also got in the best order, 
and as spring approached the ponies were hardened for their com- 
ing duties by more active exercise, such as hauling the coal supply 
and other work. The dogs also were got into condition for their 
coming duties, and the motor car was tried upon the sea-ice, where 
it worked satisfactorily, alterations being made in it to reduce its 
weight, all superfluous gear being taken off. Before testing this 
car upon the land surface, however, a party of three started on a 
brief journey south to examine conditions, and concluded then that 
they were such as to render the car unavailable. This was owing 
to the very heavy snowfall, which was much greater than on Shack- 



58 SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 

leton's former experience in the "Discovery" expedition. This in- 
tended adjunct of the expedition, therefore, had to be given up. 

The first step towards the polar dash was taken in Sep- 
tember, it consisting in the forming of a food depot. There were 
six persons on this trip, the sledges being hauled by hand and each 
man's load being about one hundred and seventy pounds. The 
depot was formed in latitude 76 degrees 36 minutes, at a distance of 
about one hundred and forty miles from the winter camp. 

On September 226. a party of three set out on an expedition as 
important in its way as the search for the Pole, its purpose being 
to locate the south megnetic pole, whose position had never been 
definitely fixed, though a close approximation to it had been made. 
This party consisted of Professor David, the geologist of the expe- 
dition, with two others of the scientific corps. 

It was mid October before everything was ready for the main 
expedition, that having the South Pole for its goal. The food sup- 
ply had been fixed, consisting of pemmican, biscuits, cheese, choco- 
late, sugar, tea and some other articles, the daily ration to be thirty- 
two ounces per man. Of the ten original ponies only eight had been 
landed and of these four had died from a proclivity for eating sand 
— leaving but four of the original number. 

The party for the Pole finally got off on October 28th, it con- 
sisting of four persons, Shackleton himself, Dr. Marshall, the sur- 
geon of the expedition; Lieutenant Adams, the meteorologist, and 
Frank Wild, w^ho had charge of the dogs and sledges. Provisions 
were taken for ninety-one days, with a smaller supply for the ponies, 
with the idea that they might find it advisable to use some of these 
animals for food. A supporting party provisioned for fourteen 
days accompanied them. 

Troubles soon assailed them, one of the ponies laming itself 
and a blizzard keeping them prisoners for several days. The next 
trouble came when one of the ponies sank through the snow cap of a 
hidden crevasse, carrying Adams down with it. An apparently 



SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 59 

bottomless cavern lay below, and though Adams and the pony; were 
rescued, their escape from death was very narrow. 

Day after day they trudged onward, with no small trouble and 
hardship, the seemingly level plain being on all sides seamed with 
crevasses, often lightly covered with new snow, so that the utmost 
vigilance was needed to avoid them. A second depot was made in 
latitude 8i degrees 4 minutes, and here one of the ponies was killed. 
This was done from the fact that the animal rations were running 
short, and fresh meat was needed, both for the depot and to carry 
with them. A sledge was left to mark the spot, it being sunk in the 
snow so that eight feet projected above the surface. To it a bam- 
boo pole with a black flag was attached. But the surrounding view- 
points of the country were chiefly trusted to for finding the depot, 
careful observations of them being taken. Two other ponies were 
subsequently killed for the same purpose, and new food caches made. 

On November 22d a range of ice-clad mountains was seen, 
with a bare peak at intervals. Their position was such that some 
way up them would have to be found if the Pole was to be reached. 
As they went on towards them the snow grew very soft, the ponies 
at times sinking in it to their bellies. On they marched, gradually 
ascending, and finally reaching a glacier which they hoped might 
lead to the Pole itself. Up this their subsequent course lay. 

On December 2d they very nearly met with a tragedy, a shout 
for "Help" from Wild calling them In haste to his assistance. When 
they reached him they saw that the forward end of the pony sledge 
projected over a crevasse, Wild grasping it and hanging over the 
gulf. No sign of the pony was visible. Wild was aided to escape 
from his dangerous position, but the pony was gone, and the man's 
escape was almost a miracle. The loss of the sledge with its load 
would have been almost fatal to them, and though they now had to 
draw it themselves, they were thankful that they had it to draw. 

By December 9th they were in a perfect nest of crevasse^, 
some covered with snow so as to be very deceptive. Marshall went 



6o SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 

through one of these and was only saved by his harness, and soon 
after Adams and Shackleton had similar experiences. The glacier 
they were ascending seemed everywhere seamed with cracks, many 
of them probably a thousand or more feet deep. 

On and on they went, constantly beset with difficulties and fre- 
quently with dangers. On December 17th the plateau they were 
seeking — here about 6,000 feet high — came in sight, and their diffi- 
culties seemed over. And here Wild found some geological speci- 
mens that, on their return to the ship, proved to be coal. There 
were several seams of this useful mineral, from four inches to eight 
feet in thickness. Still on they marched, dragging their sledges and 
ascending steadily, their food in time running so low that they had 
to reduce themselves to nearly starvation rations. 

On January 6, 1909, they reached latitude 88 degrees 7 min- 
utes south, and camped in a blizzard. For the next sixty hours 
the wind blew with a speed of seventy to eighty miles an hour, while 
the thermometer at times went down to 70 degrees below freezing 
point. 

The situation was serious. To advance in the face of that wind 
was impossible, and with their rapidly diminishing food supply it 
was almost suicidal to venture farther. But on the 9th, when the 
blizzard began to break, they made another desperate rush forward, 
and at 9 a.m. reached latitude 88 degrees 23 minutes. Here the 
British flag was hoisted. The end was reached, with the Pole only 
one hundred and eleven miles away. Before them stretched still 
the endless white plain which they had traversed so many days, and 
they could but conclude that the South Pole was situated on this 
immense plateau, more than ten thousand feet above the sea level. 
A photograph of the party and of the floating flag was taken ; they 
took possession of the plateau in the name of the British king ; then 
they turned their faces north again, having done all of which flesh 
and blood was capable. 

With the return of Shackleton and his companions we shall deal 



SHACKLETON ON THRESHOLD OF SOUTH POLE 6i 

far more briefly. They had simply to follow the path traversed in 
gomg out, with a blizzard now blowing at their back and helping 
them to the rapid progress of from twenty to twenty-nine miles 
daily. Their ponies were all gone, the one that fell down the crevasse 
being the last, and for a month they had been obliged to draw the 
sledges by hand. On the return there was but one sledge to draw 
and this became lightened by the gradual exhaustion of the food 
supply. Several times on the return trip their food gave out, but in 
each case they fortunately reached a food cache in good time to 
restore it. Yet the continual dependence on horse meat produced 
dysentery, which by February 4th prostrated the entire party. The 
southern blizzard, however, continued to help them onward, and on 
March 4th they succeeded in reaching the ship, which was now 
awaiting them. The length of the entire journey, including relays, 
was 1,708 miles and the time occupied 126 days. The results, in 
addition to the polar record, were the discovery of coal measures, 
the making of a complete meteorological record, and the discovery 
of eight distinct mountain ranges and more than a hundred moun- 
tains. 

Meanwhile the party sent in search of the Magnetic Pole had 
succeeded in locating it in the vicinity of latitude 70 degrees 25 min- 
utes south, longitude 15 degrees 4 minutes east. The "Nimrod" had 
reached the camp in time to meet the two parties on their return, and 
they soon set out for home. On the voyage northward they discov- 
ered a new range of coast mountains on what was apparently an 
extension of Victoria Land towards AVilkes Land. Thus the dis- 
puted discovery of Captain Wilkes was confirmed. Shackleton had 
blazed a track to the vicinity of the South Pole. 



CHAPTER VI 

Previous Attempts to Penetrate the Antarctic 

Region 

THE Arctic Region had been a field for explorers searching for 
a passage to the East for centuries before any attempt was 
made to explore the South Polar Zone, yet the discovery 
of the latter was in reality the more direct result of the main trend 
of geographical exploration. The early Greek geographers were 
familiar with the fact that the new world covered only a minor 
part of the Northern Hemisphere, and they realized that there was 
a vast field awaiting exploration in the Southern Hemisphere, with 
Torrid, Temperate and Frigid Zones, corresponding to the climatic 
regions which were then known in the Northern Hemisphere. 

While excursions were made into the Southern Hemisphere 
as early as the time of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1418, it was 
not until January 17, 1773, that the Antarctic Circle was crossed 
for the first time by explorers from the north. This was the achieve- 
ment of a British expedition, under the command of Captain James 
Cook. He sailed from England in 1772 on the "Resolution," a ves- 
sel of 462 tons, accompanied by the "Adventure," of 336 tons, under 
Captain Tobias Furneaux. Cook first searched in vain for Bouvet 
Island and later, on the date already given, reached a point within 
the Antarctic Zone at latitude 67 degrees 1 5 minutes south in longi- 
tude 39 degrees 35 minutes east, where further progress was pre- 
vented by the dense ice packs. From that point Cook sailed to the 
north in search of South France, of which he had been told at Cape 
Horn, but failing to reach this point he again turned to the south, 
and was able to proceed as far as latitude 61 degrees 62 minutes 
south in longitude 95 degrees east before his course was again inter- 

(62) 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 6^ 

rupted by impassable ice. He then sailed eastward approximately 
on the parallel of latitude 60 degrees south, until, on March i6th, he 
reached longitude 147 degrees east. The severity of the approach- 
ing v/inter then drove him northward to New Zealand and the trop- 
ical islands of the Pacific Ocean, w^here he remained until Novem- 
ber, 1773, w^hen he again set sail for the south and crossed the 
Antarctic Circle for the third time. On this voyage he attained 
latitude 71 degrees 10 minutes south in longitude 106 degrees 54 
minutes wxst. This point, which he succeeded in reaching on 
March 30, 1774, was the farthest point south that was gained during 
the eighteenth century. 

Before completing his voyage, however, Cook continued to the 
east almost to South America, and then returned to Tahiti for 
further supplies, after which he crossed the South Pacific to Tierra 
del Fuego, thence past Cape Horn to the Isle of Georgia and Sand- 
wich Land, which he discovered on December 29, 1774, and which 
was the only ice-clad land he had seen. From that point he crossed 
the South Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope, and thereby exploded 
the myth of a habitable southern continent. 

The next important Antarctic expedition on record set forth 
in February, 1819, when William Smith, in the brig "Williams," 
while rounding Cape Horn wnth a wide detour to the south, observed 
land in latitude 60 degrees 40 minutes south and named it New 
South Shetland. Smith's ship was afterwards chartered by the 
British naval commander of the Pacific Station, and in 1820 
returned to New South Shetland under the command of Edward 
Bransfield, Master of the Royal Navy, and proceeded as far south 
as latitude 64 degrees 30 minutes. In the meantime American 
sealers from Stonington, Connecticut, were plying their trade on 
the newly discovered land. One of their number, Nathaniel B. 
Palmer, discovered the chain of mountains farther south which still 
bears his name. It was not long after that the Emperor Alexander I 
of Russia, became interested in the subject of Antarctic explora- 
tion and launched an expedition second in importance only to that 



64 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

of Captain Cook. This expedition, commanded by Fabian von 
Bellingshausen, aboard the "Vostok," accompanied by Lieutenant 
Sazareff in the "Mirni/' set out with the purpose of supplementing 
Cook's work by circumnavigating the Antarctic region, keeping as 
far south as possible in those longitudes where Cook had made 
detours to the north. Bellingshausen reached South Georgia in 
December, 1819, discovered the Traverse Islands and after sighting 
the Sandwich Islands was stopped by ice in latitude 60 degrees 
south. In order to avoid this ice he turned to the east and crossed 
the 60th parallel in latitude 8 degrees west and proceeded as far as 
latitude 69 degrees 25 minutes south in longitude i degree 11 min- 
utes west. This record still stands as the extreme latitude reached 
in that meridian. Later, however, he reached latitude 69 degrees 52 
minutes south in longitude 92 degrees 10 minutes west. 

On the following day, January 22, 1821, Bellingshausen sighted 
the first land seen within the Antarctic Circle, which was a small 
island named for Peter I. The following week he sighted a larger 
body of land which was named for Alexander I. The most impor- 
tant result of Bellingshausen's explorations was that it left only 
one half of the Antarctic Circle within which land could possibly 
project beyond the Frigid Zone. 

James Weddell, a retired officer of the British navy, was the 
next explorer to venture into the Antarctic region, when in 1823 he 
launched an expedition on board the "Jane," a brig of one hundred 
and sixty tons, and the "Beaufoy," of sixty-five tons. He succeeded 
in reaching latitude 74 Segrees 15 minutes south in longitude 34 
degrees 17 minutes west, which was at that time the highest south- 
ern latitude that had been attained. This point was reached entirely 
by sea, giving no indications of a polar continent. 

Weddell brought back with him valuable specimens of Ant- 
arctic animals, among which was a specimen of the seal which bears 
his name. The body of water which he explored, he then named for 
George IV, but it is now known as Weddell Sea. 

Six years later an expedition under the command of Captain 



I 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 65 

Henry Foster of the British navy was organized for the purpose of 
making scientific observations in the South Shetland Islands. 
Although this expedition did not go as far south as the 64th parallel, 
their careful work in the territory which they covered added greatly 
to the scientific world's knowledge of Antarctic conditions. 

In 1 83 1, John Biscoe, of the British navy, made a voyage in the 
brig "Tuli," accompanied by the cutter "Lively/' which ranks with 
the expeditions of Cook and Bellingshausen in that Biscoe surpassed 
their achievements with much inferior facilities for the work. 
However, Biscoe was not only a keen explorer but a man of great 
reasoning powers and worked his way to conclusions which were 
far beyond his time. In January of the year mentioned, when Biscoe 
had hunted in vain for seals on the Sandwich Islands, he put into 
execution the idea of sailing eastward in search of new islands on 
which he might hope to find seals. In latitude 60 degrees he met 
an impenetrable barrier of ice which compelled him to travel east 
as far as longitude 10 degrees west before he could again turn 
south. From this point he reached the Antarctic Circle in longitude 
I degree east. His route of travel approximately paralleled that of 
Bellingshausen, but farther east than the latter's tracks. Biscoe was 
unsuccessful in his search for seal-bearing lands, but nevertheless 
continued eastward for five weeks under great dif^culties and dis- 
couragements, covering much the same longitudes that Cook and 
Bellingshausen had covered, but in a greater latitude. His highest 
latitude was 69 degrees in longitude 10 degrees 43 minutes east. 

Continuing eastward for another month, and remaining prac- 
tically all of the time within the Antarctic Circle, he finally reached 
longitude 49 degrees 18 minutes east where he finalty discovered 
land. For two weeks in the face of terrible storms Biscoe was tossed 
about in a vain attempt to land on the promontory which he had 
sighted, and to w^hich he gave the name of Cape Ann, but finally 
when the sea began to freeze and his crew seemed utterly exhausted 
from exposure, Biscoe regretfully withdrew from the fight, without 



t 

66 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

having succeeded in reaching Cape Ann, which is now known as 
Enderby Land. 

Biscoe returned to Tasmania where he remained only long 
enough to regain his health and reorganize his crews, and imme- 
diately set sail again to hunt seals on the shores of New Zealand 
and nearby islands. Soon, however, he again turned south, and on 
February 14, 1832, he sighted land in 60 degrees south, 72 degrees 
west. This he believed to be the most southerly land yet known, 
being in ignorance of Bellingshausen's discoveries in the same 
regions. He also sighted the islands now known as the Biscoe 
Islands, and beyond this a large tract of land of which he took pos- 
session in the name of William IV, now known as Graham Land. 
For his achievement in Antarctic explorations Biscoe was awarded 
the gold medals of the Geographical Societies of London and Paris. 

The voyage of John Balleny, in command of the "Eliza Scott" 
and the cutter "Sabrini," who set sail from New Zealand on June 
17, 1839, was unique in the fact that it was the first east to west 
expedition in high latitudes, and obtains its importance from the 
fact that all expeditions in the opposite direction had suffered 
severely from terrific head winds. Crossing the Antarctic Circle in 
178 degrees east, Balleny proceeded to 69 degrees south, a higher 
parallel than had before been reached in that section. Here he was 
stopped by ice. Working his way northwestward along the edge 
of the ice, Balleny came upon a group of mountainous islands, known 
as the Balleny Islands, one of which was 12,000 feet in height. 
Another of these islands was discovered by Balleny to be an active 
volcano. Attempts to make a landing here were ineffectual and 
almost led to the drowning of Captain Freeman in the "Sabrini." 
Balleny then continued westward between 63 degrees and 65 
degrees south to 121 degrees east where he discovered land, which 
was given the name of Sabrini. On this part of the trip an iceberg 
was passed having a large rock embedded in it, which showed clear 
evidence of the existence of land farther south. 

Not very long afterward the scientific world turned its atten- 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 67 

tion to the study of magnetic conditions in the Antarctic. Expedi- 
tions were sent out for this purpose from the United States, France 
and Great Britain. All of these expeditions made notable discov- 
eries, among which the achievements of the British expedition are 
by far the most important. The French expedition under D'Urville, 
in 1838, was checked by a bank of ice extending for three hundred 
miles east and west. The American expedition, under Captain 
Wilkes, in 1840, discovered a long coast line, which apparently 
extended from Enderby's Land to Ringold's Knoll, being of such 
extent that he described it as an Antarctic continent. His discovery, 
long questioned, has since been confirmed. 

The British expedition composed two ships, the "Erebus," of 
3/^0 tons, and the "Terror," of 340 tons,, the former commanded by 
Captain James Clarke Ross, of the British navy, who was also in 
command of the expedition, and the "Terror" commanded by 
Frances Rawdon Moira Crozier. An interesting feature of the per- 
sonnel of this expedition lies in the fact that Joseph Dalton Hooker, 
a young surgeon, joined the British navy for the express purpose of 
accompanying this expedition. He not only gratified his wish but 
lived to take a keen interest in every subsequent Antarctic expedi- 
tion, down to that of Captain Scott in 1910-12. 

Ross's expedition pushed its way south, and after crossing the 
Antarctic Circle on January i, 1841, encountered a heavy ice pack 
on January 5th in 174 degrees east. Much to their surprise, Ross 
and his companions were able to work their ships through the ice, 
from which they entered upon an open sea. Making their course 
for the magnetic pole, they discovered a chain of very high moun- 
tains lying on the coast running south from what is now known as 
Cape Adair. This body of land was given the name of Victoria 
Land. Continuing southward along the coast the highest mountain 
was named Mt. Melbourne in honor of the prime minister. On 
January 28th the volcanoes Erebus and Terror were sighted in 78 
degrees south. At the base of these A^olcanoes lay Cape Crozier 
from which the unprecedented ice barrier or cliff ran eastward. 



6S PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

This tremendous ice cliff, which rose perpendicularly to a height of 
300 feet, extended for a distance of 250 miles and is still known as 
the Ross Barrier, while the water which it borders is known as Ross 
Sea. 

Proceeding eastward along the barrier, Ross reached a lati- 
tude of 78 degrees 41 minutes. At 167 degrees west, Ross turned 
in search of a winter harbor in Victoria Land. With the idea of 
keeping near the south magnetic pole, Ross did not explore 
McMurdoch Bay, where, as is now known, he could have found a 
harbor. Being unable to land elsewhere on account of the ice, Ross 
returned to Hobart, Tasmania, after achieving what still stands 'as 
the most remarkable Antarctic voyage for striking discoveries 
which has ever been made. In November of 1841, Ross returned 
with the "Erebus" and "Terror" to the fascinating territory which 
he had been compelled so regretfully to leave a few months previous. 

Despite unusually severe storms, Ross succeeded in reaching 
78 degrees 10 minutes south and 161 degrees 27 minutes west, the 
highest latitude that had been reached for sixty years. Here the 
ice barrier attained a mountainous height, and Ross believed that he 
had found a new land, but not being able to confirm his belief, it 
was left until the following century for others to explore this terri- 
tory, which came to be known as King Edward Land. Again Ross 
turned northward, wintering in the Falkland Islands, and early 
in 1843 made his third and last expedition without important 
discoveries. 

With many minor Antarctic expeditions intervening, it was 
over fifty years before Captain Christenson, the Norwegian 
explorer, commanding- the "Antarctic," succeeded in landing a small 
party on the mainland near Cape Adair, and thus achieved the dis- 
tinction of beinsf the first to set foot on the Antarctic continent. 

In 1898, Carstens Egeberg Borchgrevink, a young Norwegian 
residing in Australia, who had accompanied Captain Christenson 
in 1894, and who afterwards returned to England, organized an 
expedition which set sail on the "Southern Cross" with the intention 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 69 

of landing at Cape Adair and advancing- toward the south mag- 
netic pole, with the further possibility of a trip to the geographical 
pole. Cape Adair was reached on February 17,, 1898, where a party 
of ten was landed. Progress inland at that time was found impos- 
sible, and Borchgrevink with his men spent the first year ever passed 
by man on the Antarctic land in meteorological and magnetic obser- 
vations and in collecting scientific specimens. 

The following January the party again boarded the "Southern 
Cross" and sailed further south, landings being made at several 
points en route, and also at the base of Mount Terror on February 
loth. While the party remained ashore at Mount Terror one of 
the m.ost exciting incidents of the whole journey occurred. The 
party landed at a small beach which lay under cliffs towering five 
hundred feet above. In order to get photographs of it, the boat 
was despatched back to the ship for a camera, while Borchgrevink 
and Jensen remained ashore. The boat had not gone very far when 
a great roar sounded in the air. Those on shore feared for the 
moment that a slide had begun in the cliffs over their heads ; but it 
was not the rocks that were moving. A mighty glacier, which 
entered the sea near where they were standing, was shedding an 
iceberg from the parent mass, and the noise was caused by the 
rending of the ice as the tremendous mass tore itself free. The 
beach was barely four feet above the water, and, as the berg crashed 
into the sea, it sent up a great wave that swept along the coast. The 
men on the beach barely saw it coming before it had reached them. 
Pressing themselves against the face of the cliff at the highest point 
they could reach, they held on for dear life while the ic}^ water 
surged up and over them. After the first wave had passed, others 
followed, though these only reached up to their arm-pits, and had 
it not been for a projecting point of rock, which served to break the 
force of the waves, there is little doubt but that both would have 
been swept away. The full force of the waves was shown only a 
few yards away from where the two had stood, stones being torn 
loose and the mark of the water being left twenty feet up the cliff. 



70 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

From Mount Terror Borchgrevink's expedition proceeded 
along the ice barrier, the edge of which was found to be about thirty 
miles further south than it had been when discovered by Ross fifty- 
eight years before. Borchgrevink succeeded in landing on the ice 
with dogs and sledges and travelled south about sixteen miles to 
latitude 78 degrees 50 minutes. On this trip he made the important 
discovery that plant life existed on some of the rocky islands in 
the form of mosses and lichens. 

The territory explored first by Ross and afterwards by Borch- 
grevink and others, proved to be the pregnable point from which 
Shackleton, Amundsen and Scott later succeeded in penetrating the 
Antarctic continent, with the result that the latter two achieved the 
distinction of reaching the South Pole itself, as already related. It 
was in this territory also that the Japanese expedition arrived in the 
Bay of Whales and landed on the barrier on January 16, 1912, near 
the winter quarters from which Amundsen made his successful trip 
to the Pole. 

The success of the Borchgrevink expedition revived the 
interest in Antarctic research, and in 1901 three nations, England^ 
Germany and Sweden, despatched expeditions to the far south. 
Each was to have its distinct field of operation, the British to 
explore the region south of Australia, the Swedes that south of Cape 
Horn, and the Germans the Bouvet Island district. This island, 
first seen by Captain Cook, had been revisited by a German steamer, 
the ''Valdivia," in 1898, and evidence found of extensive land 
near the Pole. 

The German expedition sailed from Kiel on August 11, 1901^ 
on board the "Gauss," and was under the command of Professor 
Erich von Drygalski. Their objective was Kerguellen Island, and 
the chief work carried out was of a purely scientific character. It 
was originally intended that all the expeditions should return to 
Europe after passing one winter in the Antarctic. The Germans 
did so, but both the Swedes and the British were unable to carry 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 71 

out this part of the program, the former in consequence of the 
loss of their ship in the ice, the latter because their ship was hard 
and fast in the southern ice. The Germans were more fortunate in 
escaping the ill effects of what was an unusually severe ice season; 
but the expeditions of the other nations, by the longer stay they had 
in the frozen regions, were able to return with a much more com- 
prehensive collection of information. 

The principal result achieved by the German expedition was to 
prove that Knox Land and Kemp Land, which appear as separate 
coasts on the old maps, are really continuous areas. Forcing a way 
through the pack ice, the *'Gauss" found a stretch of open water, 
rapidly shoaling, and leading to a rugged, steep coast line, in the 
position which Ross had charted in 1841 as "ice cliffs." Here the 
ship became frozen into the ice and winter quarters were established. 
Little work of importance was done, and in the following summer 
the explorers freed their ship from the ice and returned to Germany. 

The Swedish expedition, sailing in the "Antarctica,'" com- 
manded by Captain C. A. Larsen, was headed by Professor Otto 
Nordenskiold, the plan being to leave a party of six on the Ant- 
arctic shores, the ship returning for the winter to the Falkland 
Islands. The final return was to be in 1903. As it proved, the 
summer of 1902-3 was the coldest and worst for Ice conditions ever 
recorded in the south polar region, and instead of one winter, the 
Swedes were compelled to spend two in the ice. 

On February 10, 1902, the vessel was in Sydney Herbert Bay, 
which formed the hitherto unvisited part of Erebus and Terror 
Gulf. As it was obviously impossible to get farther to the south, 
Nordenskiold decided to establish the winter station on one of the 
islands in this vicinity. A brief visit to Seymour Island did not 
reveal the wealth of fossil-bearing strata that was expected. Paulet 
Island was visited and an interesting circular lake was discovered, 
lying in a circular range of hills. The banks of the lake bore ample 
evidences that at one time there had been great volcanic activity at 



72 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

the place, and the lake was evidently formed in the hollow of the 
extinct crater. The place did not appeal to them as a site for the 
winter station, and, as further journeys revealed another island on 
the other side of Seymour Island, where there was a beach which 
appeared to be sheltered from the southward, the point whence the 
most violent winds blew, it was decided to build the hut there. 

The "Antarctica" anchored in the bay opposite the beach and 
rapidly unloaded the camp equipment. When everything" was 
almost landed, a movement in the ice at the mouth of the bay com- 
pelled the ship to stand out into open water, so the party of six, who 
were to spend the winter on the island, hastened ashore, where they 
ihad their hut to build and all preparations to make without the help, 
which had been counted upon, of the crew of the vessel. But this 
did not weigh heavily upon them, and they set to work with a will. 
In the course of a week, the "Antarctica" was able to get into the 
bay again and to land the remaining stores; but by that time the 
hut was up and the adventurous six were almost settled down to 
their routine work. 

A day or so after landing, Nordenskiold discovered that the 
island they were on — named by them Snow Hill Island — was pecu- 
liarly interesting from a geological point of view, for he found 
fossils of ammonites, a token of ancient life of the region which 
alone would have made the expedition memorable. 

The position proved to be badly chosen, as it was exposed to 
gales of great violence, the wind at one time being strong enough 
to lift a whale-boat, carry it over a second one, and dash it against 
an ice cliff, twenty-one yards away, with such violence that its side 
was smashed in. As winter approached, the storms obscured the 
sky and the sun was not often seen. They were not far enough 
south to lose it altogether, and all through the winter they had the 
benefit of its presence, though not for many hours at a time. When 
it did come, however, it came with great magnificence. After a 
series of storms they saw it rise one morning, and the spectacle is 
described as gorgeous and beautiful. 




ROALD AMUNDSEN IN POLAR COSTUME 

The discover of the South Pole in his Antarctic traveling clothes. Tempera- 
tures of more than forty degrees below zero are sometimes encountered. 



i 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 73 

The winter passed without misfortune, and with the approach 
of spring preparations were made for the first long sledge journey. 
On this, and other journeys, they succeeded in traveling long dis- 
tances over what was often heavy ice, on two meals a day. The 
first, w^hich was the more substantial of the two, consisted of pem- 
mican made into a thick porridge-like soup, the nutritious qualities 
of \vhich were felt even as it was being eaten. This was followed 
by coffee, meat biscuits, butter and sugar. On such a meal the men 
existed and traveled all day, making no stop until the evening, when 
they had their dinner, consisting merely of pea or lentil soup, meat, 
chocolate, bread, butter, and, sometimes, bacon. Immediately they 
had eaten this frugal repast they were in their sleeping-bags and 
asleep. 

Meanwhile the "Antarctica" had proceeded north to Tierra del 
Fuego and South Georgia, picked up some members of the party 
w^ho had been left there, and sailed south again with the purpose of 
reaching the winter station early in January. As she advanced, 
however, she found the sea so blocked with ice that she could not 
follow the course she had traversed the previous year. When she 
arrived at Hope Bay, some miles to the north of the station. Pro- 
fessor Andersson and two companions landed with sledges and 
sufficient provisions to last nine men for two months. It was their 
intention to proceed over the ice to the station, while the "Ant-, 
arctica"' steamed away to the west, in the hopes of finding an 
opening through the ice which would enable her to reach the station. 
If, on the arrival of the relief party at the station, the "Antarctica" 
had not appeared, they were to return, with the other six, and wait 
for the ship at Hope Bay. 

As it proved, they were not able to traverse the intervening 
region, and were compelled to stay where they were, and as the 
summer passed without the ship being seen, they decided to return 
to Hope Bay and await her. The original party had also looked 
for the "Antarctica" in vain. The farthest south they penetrated 



74 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

was to 56 degrees 48 minutes, but they had been fortunate in finding 
fossil remains of unknown animals, and the fossil leaves of several 
kinds of pine trees and ferns. 

The "Antarctica" was, like her two parties, ice bound. She 
had steamed away to the west, and then, a chance offering itself, 
had stood to the south until she was in the latitude of Paulet Island. 
She turned to the east, heading in the direction of the station on 
Snow Hill Island, when the ice caught her. For days she remained 
in the pack, those on board chafing at the delay and trying every 
device to get her free. But the ice was too strong, and at last they 
were forced to admit that they were caught for the winter. This 
was bad enough, but there was worse to follow. A movement began 
in the pack, and a pressure-ridge started directly for the ship. It 
was upon them almost before they realized it, and the crash with 
which she heeled over told its own tale. The ice had torn a length 
of her keel away, and had made a hole in her which it was impossible 
to repair. 

Everything that could be got out was thrown on to the ice, and 
the ship's company formed themselves into sledge parties to convey 
as much as they could to the nearest land. This was Paulet Island, 
where they arrived after an arduous march and at once set to work 
to construct a shelter for the winter, which was now upon them. 
There they stayed, within a few miles of the station, and of the 
other party at Hope Bay, but all in ignorance of the proximity of 
one another, and quite unable to communicate. 

With the first sign of approaching spring the men at the 
original station made arrangements to resume their expeditions and 
complete the survey of the islands in their immediate vicinity. The 
first trip was in the direction of Hope Bay, and the party had been 
out some days when, in the dim light, one of them thought he 
saw a dark patch on the ice in the distance. He drew his com- 
panion's attention to it, but neither cared to trust their eyes. A'^ 
they approached nearer, the dark patch resolved itself into the 



. PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 75 

figures of men, and a still nearer view revealed two such extraordi- 
nary creatures that one of the men from the station thought it would 
be as well to have a revolver ready in case of emergency. The two 
figures were in black garments, with black caps on their heads, and 
their hands and faces were as black as their clothes, while the upper 
parts of their faces were hidden by curious-looking masks. Beside 
them was a sledge. 

With considerable uncertainty the men from the station 
approached, and were not reassured when they were asked, in Eng- 
lish, how they were. 'Thanks; how are you?" they replied. "Don't 
you know us?" one of the strange-looking creatures asked. "We're 
the relief party. Have you seen the ship?" Then a third figure 
appeared from behind an ice hummock where he had been preparing 
a meal. They were Professor Andersson and his companions, who 
were on their way, for the second time, to the station. 

Without loss of time the reunited comrades made their way to 
the station, where soap and water and a fresh supply of clothes 
soon transformed the appearance of the three who had had so trying 
a time in the little stone hut at Hope Bay. But the situation was 
still fraught with anxiety, now that they realized that something 
very serious had happened to the "Antarctica." It was impossible 
for them to determine whether she had gone to the bottom, or had 
been beset in the ice. Only one thing was clear, and that was that 
they would all have to stay where they were until some help came 
to them. While they were still debating what chances there were 
of any coming before another winter went by, they were startled, 
one day, by the arrival of visitors. These proved to be a search 
party from the Argentine cruiser "Uruguay," which the Argentine 
government had despatched on account of the "Antarctica," not 
having returned at her appointed time. Help had come at a time 
and from a quarter least expected. 

But the news that the cruiser brought added very much to the 
fears the explorers entertained as to the safety of the "Antarctica" 



76 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

and her crew. If she had been beset, some of her company could 
have reached the station over the ice while it was still compact, or, 
if she was still afloat, she ought herself to have been able to reach 
them. The absence of all news made the members of the expedition 
gathered at the station more than uneasy as to the fate of their 
comrades. 

The morning after the Argentine officers arrived, one of the 
men, looking out of the hut, exclaimed that eight men were coming 
over the ice. Under the impression that they were some of the 
cruiser's crew sent to assist in removing the baggage from the 
station to the ship, he went out to meet them, walking slowly, as he 
tried to decide what was to be done if they could not speak, any 
language he knew. The others in the hut, watching him, saw him 
suddenly leap forward and then turn to them and wave his arms. 
''Larsen ! Larsen is here !" they heard him shout. 

With one accord they rushed out after him, and in a few 
moments were eagerly shaking hands with the eight men, who were 
a detachment sent out from the camp on Paulet Island to ascertain 
whether the party at the station was still intact or whether it had 
been rescued. The news was sent to the cruiser, and soon all the 
members of the expedition and their baggage were on board and 
the ship was steaming for Paulet Island. 

On arrival off the coast no signs of the remainder of the crew 
of the "Antarctica" were to be seen, so the whistle was blown. 
The men at the time were all in the shelter, sleeping, and the 
sudden sound of the whistle roused them. For the moment they 
could not believe their ears. Then one of them looked out and saw 
the ship, and the shout with which he and his companions greeted 
the sight rang far out over the water. 

Professor Andersson and his two comrades had left the "Ant- 
arctica" on December 29, 1902 ; the ship was nipped on January 10, 
1903; and the castaways arrived at Paulet Island at the end of 
February. They had lived in the shelter they constructed, subsist- 



PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 77 

ing mostly on penguin, until November, when the Argentine cruiser 
arrived. Only one man had died. 

The expedition reached Buenos Aires on November 30, 1903, 
having, during the time they had been in the Antarctic, collected a 
mass of interesting and valuable scientific information. 

On December 2, 191 1, Professor Douglas Mawson, a lecturer 
in geology at the University of Adelaide, sailed from Hobart, Tas- 
mania, in the "Aurora," for the purpose of exploring the vast coast 
line of the Antarctic which was discovered by the American Cap- 
tain Wilkes seventy years before and named after him. The shores 
of Wilkes Land had not been reached since save by the Gauss expe- 
dition of 1902 and 1903, and it reported indications of a great con- 
tinent lying inland. Dr. Mawson planned to make a survey of this 
2,000-mile coast line and penetrate as far as possible into the interior. 
He thus hoped to cap the work of the American expedition under 
Wilkes on the Indian Ocean side of the southern continent. 

In the messages received during* the progress of the expedition 
Dr. Mawson reported finding Termination Land and discovering 
several islands. He described the southern magnetic pole as a force 
centre moving within a circular area of variable diameter, and 
noted that within sixty-nine years it had travelled two hundred and 
forty miles. 

A wireless message received at Sydney from Adelie Land on 
February 25, 1913, told of the deaths of Lieutenant B. E. S. Ninnis 
of England, and Dr. Xavier Mertz of Switzerland, members of Dr. 
Mawson's expedition. 

Lieutenant Ninnis of the Royal Fusiliers Regiment was killed 
by falling into a crevasse. The message did not tell the cause of 
Dr. Mertz's death. 

The message was received by Professor Davis of Sydney, who 
was with Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expedition. Dr. Mawson 
and the six members of his party were well, according to the des- 
patch, and in good condition to winter on the island of Adelie. 

The wireless message said: 



78 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THE ANTARCTIC 

"Dr. Douglas Mawson and several of his men missed the 
'Aurora/ which had gone under the command of Captain J. K. 
Davis to bring them home. Their missing the ship was due to 
unfortunate circumstances. Lieutenant B. E. S. Ninnis of the City 
of London Regiment of Royal Fusiliers, and Dr. Mertz, who was 
the ski champion of Switzerland in 1908, members of the expedition, 
are both dead. The others are well. 

''Dr. Douglas Mawson and six other members of his party 
probably will winter in Adelie Land. Soma very successful sledging 
expeditions were made during the sojourn of Dr. Mawson and his 
companions in the Antarctic.'* 

In a report from Dr. Mawson to Lord Denman, Governor- 
General of Australia, which was received simultaneously with the 
news of the death of Lieutenant Ninnis and Dr. Mertz, the com- 
mander of the expedition gave the following account of the results 
obtained so far by his expedition: 

"Our sledging season has been very successful. We have 
opened up a large area of new land, both east and west of Common- 
wealth Bay. We have obtained important new data from numbers 
of stations in close proximity to the magnetic pole. 

"It is probable that six of the staff of the expedition, as well as 
myself, may unavoidably be detained for another year in the Ant- 
arctic." 



CHAPTER VII 

The Story of Peary's Great Exploit 

THE sixth of September, 1909, was a great day in the history of 
polar exploration. It was, in fact, the consummation of 
many years of effort, involving the expenditure of immense 
sums of money, the endurance of untold physical suffering and 
mental anxiety and the loss of hundreds of human lives. 

This date stands out in history because it marks the world's 
receipt of the following astounding dispatch from Indian Harbor, 
Labrador, via Cape Bay, Newfoundland, which came close on the 
heels of Dr. Cook's claim to the discovery of the North Pole : 

"Stars and Stripes Nailed to the North Pole. 

"Peary." 

What did it mean ? Could it be correct ? Was this fanciful way 
of expressing a great fact the one that would be chosen by a dignified 
naval officer like Robert E. Peary? Such were the questions that 
many asked. It was far from certain that this was not a hoax, the 
outcome of the sense of humor of some fantastic individual at Indian 
Harbor. 

Men waited in suspense — hope mingled with doubt. They had 
not long to wait. An hour later a second message was received by 
Herbert L. Bridgman, Secretary of the Arctic Club of America. It 
was to *^e following effect: 

"Pole reached. 'Roosevelt' safe. 

"Peary." 

These startling and laconic messages, flashed from the coast of 

(79) 



8o THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

Labrador to New York and thence to the four corners of the globe 
at the moment when Dr. Frederick A. Cook was being acclaimed b}^ 
the crowned heads of Europe and by the world at large as the 
discoverer of the North Pole, added a remarkable chapter to the 
narative of a grand achievement. 

Bridgman's comment on the message settled the question of its 
source in the mind of the multitude. On seeing the text of the 
message, he exclaimed: 

"That settles it without a doubt. Peary has reached the North 
Pole. He and I fixed upon a secret code in which he was to convey 
to me his success or failure. Translation of the code words in his 
dispatch means that he has at last achieved his greatest ambition. 

"There wei^e a lot of words in the code. Several began with the 
word 'sun,' and these were to indicate that he had been successful in 
his quest of the Pole. 

"I have left my list of code words at Northampton, but I think 
that the word 'sunshine' was the code word we agreed upon for 'Pole 
reached. Roosevelt safe.' There were several words beginning 
with 'moon,' which were to signify that Commander Peary had not 
reached the Pole." 

A second message to Mr. Bridgman read: 

"Kindly rush following: Wire all principal home and foreign 
geographical societies of all nations, including Japan, Brazil, etc., 
that the North Pole was reached April 6th by Peary Arctic Club's, 
expedition, under Commander Peary. Peary.'"' 

This was but the beginning of despatches from the returning 
explorer. Soon they began fairly to rain down the wire. To Henry 
F. Osborne, of the American Museum of Natural History, came the 
following : 

"The Pole is ours. Am bringing large amount of material for 
museum. Peary.'' 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 8i 

Before the explorer left on his trip a year ago he had assured 
Mr. Osborn that if he reached the Pole he would come back with a 
sack full of curios that would probably make some interesting 
exhibits. Mr. Osborn cabled his thanks to Peary upon receiving the 
message, and despatches came to Peary from other sources, con- 
veying the congratulations of foreign and American geographical 
societies and former polar explorers on the accomplishment of the 
great feat, including one from the International Polar Commission, 
signed by Cagni, Nordenskiold and Lecointe, officials of the com- 
mission. 

Going back a little, let us tell from its beginning the story of 
the final expedition of the persistent explorer, the claim of whose 
success followed so quickly that of Dr. Cook. When Commander 
Peary planned the trip with which we are here concerned he 
announced that he would remain in the ice until the Pole had been 
reached, even if it took the three years for which his ship was pro- 
visioned, to succeed. His experience on his former trips was such 
that he now felt sure of accomplishing the design to which so many 
years of his life had been devoted. With this in mind, he set out to 
raise the money necessary to equip the expedition. 

He needed $50,000, and this he had considerable difficult}^ in 
obtaining. He put in all the money he had himself, and relied upon 
popular subscription and his friends to furnish the remainder. Zenas 
Crane, of Dalton, Mass., gave $10,000, and others contributed 
liberally. Even when he lacked half of the necessary amount Peary 
went ahead characteristically to get his ship in order, feeling sure 
that the money would come. It came, and when it did the explorer 
was all ready to weigh anchor and proceed north. 

The ship, the "Roosevelt," which the Peary Arctic Club built 
for the explorer for his journey north in 1905, was completely over- 
hauled. New engines and boilers were installed and many changes, 
suggested by the explorer's previous experience, carried out. The 
"Roosevelt" was first launched in Bucksport, Me., on March 23, 



82 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

1905. The designer was William E. Winant, of New York, who 
worked from Peary's own suggestions. She is 182 feet in length, 
with a beam of 35.5 feet, a depth of 16.3 feet, and a mean draught, 
with stores, of 17 feet. Her gross tonnage is 614 and her estimated 
displacement about 1,500 tons. She is a three-masted fore-and-aft 
schooner-rigged steamship. She was built entirely of white oak, 
with treble frames close together, double planked. Her walls are 
from 24 to 30 inches thick. The keel, 16 inches thick, is reinforced 
with false keels and keelson. Her heavy bow is backed by twelve 
feet of solid deadwood. Her stern, reinforced by iron, had a long 
overhang, to protect the rudder from the ice, but the rudder itself 
was so arranged that it could be Hfted out of the water when jammed 
or entangled. 

It had been Peary's purpose to set out in 1907, but the ship 
could not be got ready in time, so that it became necessary to defer 
the trip till 1908. This failure in his plans prevented the possibility 
of a very interesting event, which might have taken place if he had 
got off at the time originally intended. In that case his dash to the 
Pole would probably have been made in 1908, and the strange con- 
tingency might have happened of the two rival explorers, Cook and 
Peary, meeting at the end of the earth's axis. In such a possible 
case what else would have occurred? Would the bad blood which 
has since developed have manifested itself there, and the Pole have 
been the scene of a royal battle for its possession? Or would the 
rivals have consented to bury the hatchet with their records and drag 
back the coveted prize in friendly union? No one can say; but in 
such event, In any case, the present unhappy controversy could not 
have arisen. 

At any rate, this interesting possibility was prevented by 
Peary's year's delay, it being on July 6, 1908, that the "Roosevelt," 
with a picked crew and thoroughly stocked for a three years' stay 
in the North, set sail from New York. The scientists on board were 
the following: Dr. John W. Goodsell, of New Kensington, Pa. ; Pro- 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT B3 

fessor Donald B. McMillan, of Worcester, Mass. ; Professor George 
Borup, of Yale University; Professor Ross G. Marvin, of Yale Uni- 
versity; Dr. John Scott, surgeon. 

The scientific equipment which Commander Peary took with 
him on his voyage was said at the time to be the most complete ever 
taken to the polar regions. It consisted of all the instruments 
needed in meteorological, astronomical and tidal observations. 

Forty guests of the Peary Arctic Club escorted the ship as far 
as City Island, and it then proceeded to Oyster Bay, where Mr. 
Peary had arranged to have President Roosevelt inspect the boat. 
Just before leaving Commander Peary discussed his journey with 
the newspaper men. 

"I'll not promise anything before I start," he said, "except that 
I am going to put into it every bit of energy, moral, mental and 
physical, that I possess. I feel confident that in any case I shall carry 
the American flag further north than ever. Unless the unforeseen 
happens I shall plant the Stars and Stripes at the Pole. If conditions 
are no worse in the next season than they were during the last 
voyage I shall hope to accomplish the object of the expedition and 
return in about fifteen months — that is in October, 1909. I am pre- 
pared, however, for a stay of three years. 

"The attainment of the North and South Poles by American 
expeditions would be worth to this country many times the few 
thousands expended just for the closer bond, the deeper patriotism 
resulting when every one of the hundred millions of us could say, 
'The Stars and Stripes float at both ends of the earth's axis and the 
whole earth turns about them.' " 

All the way to Oyster Bay the vessel got an ovation, and when 
it reached there President Roosevelt, his wife and family went on 
board and inspected it. 

"Well, Peary, good-bye, and may you have the best of luck," 
said President Roosevelt as he gave the explorer's hand a hearty 
grasp. 



84 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

"Thank you/' responded Peary with a smile, "I never felt so 
confident of success in all these years as I do now." 

The President expressed himself as being heartily pleased with 
everything and everybody about the ship, and shook hands with all 
the crew. Captain Bartlett, shaking hands with the President and 
bidding him farewell, said, "It's ninety or nothing; the North Pole 
or bust this time." 

It is not necessary to describe the trip north other than to state 
that the "Erik," the convoy of the "Roosevelt," was injured by 
striking an iceberg when off Etah, which place the "Roosevelt" left 
on August 1 8th, with excellent prospects of making her way farther 
north. The "Erik" was repaired and set out on her return voyage. 

On October 9th last Henry Johnson, an able seaman of the 
"Roosevelt," arrived in New York from Greenland, bringing the 
first oral news of the expedition. He returned because of an injury 
to his knee. He brought a letter from Peary to the Arctic Club, 
telling of the progress the ship had made, with photographs and 
other data. Johnson stated that the "Roosevelt" was hit by a hur- 
ricane off the coast of Greenland on July 29th. It opened the seams 
of the ship's bow to such an extent that several of the crew felt her 
to be practically unseaworthy for a rough voyage among icebergs. 
While she was being repaired at Etah, Johnson said, her leaky bow 
caused apprehension among some of the crew. When the "Erik" 
reached St. John's, however, her commander reported that she had 
left the "Roosevelt" in good shape. 

At Etah, the northernmost Eskimo settlement, Peary obtained 
the necessary aid from these people, and before the "Roosevelt'" 
steamed out of that harbor it had taken on board forty-nine Eskimos, 
men, women and children, 226 dogs and the meat of more than forty 
walrus. The trip north proceeded with comparative ease, with the 
ordinary obstructions from fog and broken ice, and Robeson Chan- 
nel was navigated as far as Lady Franklin Bay without meeting 
either of these. 




MAP SHOWING PEARY'S ROUTE TO THE NORTH POLE 



86 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

Farther north trouble began, heavy ice being met, the "Roose- 
velt'' being driven ashore twice by the ice and somewhat injured. 
On September 2d they succeeded in getting past Cape Union, at 
which these troubles had occurred, and northward until Cape Sheri- 
dan was reached on the 5th. They were now through Robeson 
Channel and in the Polar Sea, at the northeast extremity of Grant 
Land, opposite Greenland, which here trends off to the east, while 
Grant Land trends to the west. Here the ship was put into winter 
quarters, at a point close to the position at which it had wintered 
three years before, and which was reached on the same day as on 
that occasion. 

It had been Commander Peary's desire to winter at some point 
much farther west, to avoid the difficulties which had formerly 
imperilled his expedition. On that occasion he was greatly impeded 
by the rapid drift of the ice to the east, which a little retarded his; 
progress north, and, worse still, carried him so far to the east on 
his return that he had to make his landing on the coast of North 
Greenland, many days' march from the "Roosevelt," his base of 
supplies, and put him in imminent danger of starvation. As it 
happened, however, the ice conditions obliged him to put the "Roose- 
velt" into nearly her old quarters of three years before. 

Cape Columbia, a point on the northern coast of Grant Land at 
a considerable distance westward from Cape Sheridan, was now 
selected as the starting point of the northward trip, and after the 
work of landing stores and erecting a house and workshop had been 
completed, sledging trips westward were inaugurated for the pur- 
pose of conveying supplies to the chosen starting point. This con- 
tinued from September 17th to November 5th, by which time a large 
store of supplies was collected at Cape Columbia, ready for the 
northward journey in the coming spring. Hunting parties were 
also kept busy and much game was brought in. Meanwhile the ice 
lifted the "Roosevelt," listing her eight or ten degrees to port, and 
all winter she remained with her decks at a considerable slant. 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 87 

The long winter months were broken somewhat by excursions 
for hunting and other purposes, and were not without their allevia- 
tions in the way of home pleasures. Christmas was especially cele- 
brated and in a style all its own. Captain Bartlett thus tells us what 
they had for dinner : 

''Well, we began with soup, oxtail soup, musk oxtail soup. Then 
we had a saddle of Cape Sheridan musk ox; beats planked steak all 
hollow. We w^ound up with Washington pudding, Washington pie, 
plum pudding, fruit, raisins and nuts.'' 

Every man on the ship received a box of candy from Mrs. 
Peary, and there were Christmas boxes for every one. Captain 
"Bob" had a box which had been entrusted to the commander, while 
the commander's box had been in care of the skipper. Neither knew 
of the other's trust, proposed by a loving wife. Toddy, in not too 
liberal measure, tobacco or cigars, was there for every one. 

After the feasting came the races, which had been arranged by 
Professor McMillan. There were races for men, women and chil- 
dren. There were races for women with children strapped to their 
backs, races for boys and girls and a tug of war. The course was 
laid on ice and lighted by lanterns, for the time was the middle of the 
Arctic night. The temperature was 20 degrees below zero. 

Karkelleah, "Jimmy" in the vernacular, won the boys' race, 
Sigloo was first at the finish for men Eskimos, while Marvin won 
the 100-yard dash for the whites. 

Lacumah, a sturdy married bride, with her first born upon her 
back, proved speediest in the married women class, and won first 
prize. This was a cake of scented soap. She had the choice of a kit 
containing thread, scissors and thimble and a frosted cake. To the 
surprise of all she chose the soap. 

The final work of conveying supplies to Cape Columbia began 
on February 17th and continued until the 22d, and by the 27th 
everything was in order for the dash to the Pole, the stores all at 
hand, the sledges in best order, and the dogs in prime fitness for 
hard work, well fed and their harness in excellent shape. 



88 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

Despite Peary's wish to start much farther west than on his 
former excursion, he seems to have been obhged to accept nearly 
the same starting point as before. But he may have overcome this 
by heading northwestward over the sea-ice until a considerably 
more westward longitude was reached before heading due north. 
The party which left the "Roosevelt" for the final journey consisted 
of seven white men, over fifty Eskimos, twenty-three sledges and 
one hundred and forty dogs. 

The end of February arrived and the time for the final great 
dash was at hand. What might lie before them no one could tell. 
There might be wide leads, or stretches of open water, such as were 
encountered in former polar journeys, and long lines of ridged and 
jagged ice were sure to be encountered, which it would be necessary 
to climb over or cut pathways through. It was all a problem, as is 
always the case in Arctic travel. Fortunately for the explorers, on 
this occasion the ice conditions proved unusually favorable and 
remarkably rapid progress was made. 

The plan adopted was to send forward successive detachments, 
following each other at fixed intervals, and each turning back after a 
certain northing was reached, Peary's own detachment being left 
for the final dash to the Pole. This plan was adhered to through- 
out, Bartlett taking the lead with the pioneer party on February 
27th and the others following in due succession. 

The dreaded troubles soon developed, several sledges being 
ruined by the rough ice in the first march, while open water soon 
added its quota to the difficulties. The worst of the open water 
leads was encountered on March 4th, this being almost a lake of 
dark, threatening water stretching far to east and west and holding 
the travelers unwilling captives for a full week. During this week 
the sun lifted its round, red face above the horizon, to the joy of the 
explorers, this being the first time they had seen it for more than 
five months. 

During the weary waiting at the lead there was anxiety con- 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 89 

cerning the whereabouts of Marvin and Borup, who failed to come 
up at the expected time and who had with them the supply of alcohol 
and oil, indispensable in polar travel. It was three days after the 
lead was crossed before the missing men reached the camp, they 
having been delayed by misadventures. Their arrival with the oil 
and alcohol was, as may be imagined, warmly welcomed. 

On March 14th Dr. Goodsell turned back, in accordance with 
the original plan, and McMillan, whose foot was badly frost-bitten, 
was sent back the next "day. Thus it went on, day after day, the 
difficulties of traveling growing less as the distance to the Pole 
decreased. Borup was the second to turn back with a supporting 
party, leaving at latitude 85 degrees 22, minutes, while Marvin fol- 
lowed him on the backward track at 86 degrees 38 minutes, and 
Bartlett at the eighty-eighth parallel, two degrees from the Pole 
and higher north than man had ever before been. In each case the 
supporting party reinforced the supply of those still going forward 

Shortly before Bartlett's departure the explorers passed through 
the one great danger of their journey, the ice suddenly opening so 
near their sleeping place as to put them in great peril, while two of 
their dog teams narrowly escaped being dragged into the water or 
crushed by grinding ice blocks. Rushing hastily from their igloos, 
the dogs wxre hitched to the sledges and their effects drawn at all 
speed to a safer place. All night and the next day the groaning ice 
continued to open and close, then the danger passed, all became fair 
sailing again, and the forward march was resumed. 

After Bartlett's departure about one hundred and forty miles 
remained to be covered. Peary remained the only white man in the 
party. With him was his negro servant Henson and four of the 
Eskimos, the pick of the party, while the dogs taken with him were 
the best of the pack and the sledges all in good condition and well 
laden with all things needed. From this time forward all went well, 
the progress being great, as much as twentA^-five miles in a day 
being covered. It was twilight all the Avay, the sun appearing above 
the horizon for only a short time each day. 



Qo THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

As he neared the Pole, Peary declares, the going got better and 
better and the temperature rose. This is not surprising, for tern-- 
perature, as one goes farther north, often rises considerably for a 
time and conditions are less severe on the body. This, however, 
cannot be depended upon, for without warning the thermometer will 
shoot downward again. 

The Pole was finally attained on April 6th, and Peary's exult- 
ant words about his arrival at that goal make one's blood tingle as 
he reads them. He must have acted like a school bo}' in his delight. 
In his journal he wrote exultantly: "The Pole at last! The prize 
of three centuries, my dream and goal for thirty years ; mine at last ! 
I cannot bring myself to realize it." His movements after reaching 
the Pole, in going ten miles back of his camp and eight miles to the 
right of it, making observations all the time, were advisable and show 
his determination not to make any mistake about his discovery. It 
isn't likely that he could be certain that he stood on the exact center 
of the earth's axis, but by going off at various angles and using his 
sextant, he could come very near locating it. 

What enjoyment it must have been for him to take photographs, 
as he says he did, at the earth's summit ! For thirty hours, he states, 
he took observations, planted flags and studied the horizon. On the 
afternoon of the following day he set out on the return trip to Cape 
Columbia. 

Matt Henson, who, as stated, formed one of the party, gives 
his story of the triumph in the following words : 

*'We arrived at the Pole just before noon on April 6th, the 
party consisting of the Commander, myself, four Eskimos, and 
thirty-six dogs, divided into two detachments equal in number and 
headed respectively by Commander Peary and myself. We had left 
the last supporting party at 87 degrees 53 minutes, where we sepa- 
rated from Captain Bartlett, who was photographed by the Com- 
mander. Captain Bartlett regretted that he did not have a British 
flag to erect on the ice at this spot, so that the photograph might 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 91 

show this as the farthest north to which the banner of England had 
been advanced. I kept a personal diary during this historic dash 
across the ice field. 

"Our first task on reaching the Pole was to build tWo igloos, as 
the weather was hazy and prevented taking accurate observations 
to confirm the distance traveled from Cape Columbia. Having com- 
pleted the snow-houses we had dinner, which included tea made on 
our alcohol stove, and then retired to rest, thus sleeping one night at 
the North Pole. 

"The Arctic sun was shining when I awoke and found the 
Commander already up. There was only wind enough to blow out 
the small flags. The ensigns were hoisted toward noon from tent 
poles and tied with fish lines. 

"We had figured out the distance pretty closely and did not 
go beyond the Pole. The flags were up about midday April 7th and 
were not moved until late that evening. The haze had cleared away 
early, but we wanted some hours to take observations. We made 
three close together. 

"When we first raised the American flag its position was behind 
the igloos which, according to our initial observations, was the posi- 
tion of the Pole, but on taking subsequent observations the Stars 
and Stripes were moved and placed 150 yards west of the first posi- 
tion, the difference in the observations being due perhaps to the 
moving ice. 

"When the flag was placed Commander Peary exclaimed in 
English : 

" 'We will plant the Stars and Stripes at the North Pole.' 

"In the native language, which I thoroughly understood, I 
proposed three cheers, which were given in the Eskimos' own 
tongue. Commander Peary shook hands all around, and we had a 
more liberal dinner than usual, each man eating as much as he 
pleased. 

"The Eskimos danced about and showed great pleasure that the 



92 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

Pole at last was reached. For years the Eskimos had been trying 
to reach that spot, but it was always with them 'tiquelgh,' which, 
translated, means, 'get so far and no closer.' They exclaimed in a 
chorus, 'Ting neigh tim ah ketisher/ meaning, 'We have got there 
at last.' " 

The flags raised at the Pole, as stated by Commander Peary, 
were the following : The first flag to be thrown to the breeze was a 
silken American emblem presented to him by his wife fifteen years 
ago. He had carried this flag on every one of his expeditions to the 
North, leaving a piece of it at the highest point he attained. The last 
remnants were raised and left at the Pole. 

He then raised the navy ensign, the flag of the Navy League, 
then the flag of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, and finally a 
flag of peace. Tent poles and snow lances were used as flagstafits, 
and when all had been raised the Commander took a number of 
photographs of the group. 

After this ceremony Peary inclosed records of his trip and other 
documents and personal papers in a box, and buried this in the ice. 
The documents were placed in watertight coverings, and the box 
itself was watertight, so that it would float if the shifting or melting 
ice brought it to water. Of the solar eclipse which took place while 
he was at the Pole and which was visible from that point, he failed 
to get a good view, on account of clouds, the sun being much 
obscured. 

This accomplished, the successful explorers set out on their 
southward route. At the start of the homeward journey Peary told 
his men that the marches were to be longer and sleep less. No time 
was to be lost in making needless observations, and the thing to do 
was to get back to Cape Columbia, away from their perilous position 
on treacherous ice. Back near the eight}^- seventh parallel, he says, 
was a stretch, fifty miles wide, that made him very uneasy, for a 
prolonged easterly or westerly gale would make it an open sea. 

Tt was just after leaving the Pole that he made his last sounding 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 93 

of the ocean depth. Five miles from the Pole he came across a deep 
crack in the ice and by chopping away part of the new surface ice 
that had recently formed, he was able to let down his lead and wire. 
For 1,500 fathoms it went down, and when the line was exhausted, 
with no bottom having been reached, he started to pull it up again. 
In doing this, the wire caught and was broken and the apparatus 
sank and was lost. 

Three marches brought Peary to the igloos where Captain 
Bartlett had turned back. The last of the three was accomplished 
with a northerly gale blowing snow and ice in their faces. Nobody 
knows, who has not been there, what it means to travel under such 
conditions, with the temperature away below zero. It seems that 
one's blood would freeze solid. 

Mile after mile Peary hurried toward Cape Columbia, more 
than four hundred miles away. Good fortune met him at every 
step, and, though he frequently encountered open leads, the new ice 
w^as sufficient to support his sledges. The face of the landscape had 
been much changed, however, since he passed over it before. Many 
of the igloos built by his supporting parties had vanished. This was 
probably due to the shifting ice-floes. The return, in fact, was made 
with remarkable ease and speed, the rate of progress being almost 
doubled. The old trail was visible throughout and they went back 
on their outward track, undisturbed by any eastward drift and 
heading straight for their starting point. 

It must have been a joyful moment when, on April 23d, the tired 
Eskimos came in sight of Cape Columbia and danced about on the 
ice as though crazy with delight. In spite of their primitive intel- 
lects, Eskimos can speak forcibly and appropriately at times. 

One cannot blame Peary and his men, after their reunion with 
the comrades who had parted from them at intervals on the trip, for 
spending the two days following their arrival at the cape in sleep. 
The reaction of both mind and muscle must have been overpowering. 

It is interesting to note that he attributes his success in great 



94 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

measure to a new type of sledge, which, he says, reduced the work 
'of both dog and driver, and a new type of camp cooler, which added 
to the comfort and sleep of the men. His account of the southward 
journey of the "Roosevelt" from Cape Sheridan is interesting, but 
many explorers have accomplished that trip, so there is no need to 
give any details of the homeward voyage, of which the world became 
apprised on September 6th, when the messages came speeding down- 
ward from Indian Harbor, Labrador, conveying the news of Com- 
mander Peary's signal success. 

With all these tales of good fortune, there is one of ill fortune 
to relate, that of the unfortunate death of a prominent member of 
the expedition, Ross Marvin, who was -drowned on his return 
journey. It is thus described in an extract from Dr. Goodsell's 
diary : 

"Ross Marvin is gone, the Polar Sea has claimed him. The 
'Roosevelt's' flag is flying at half-mast. Our hearts are sorrowful 
for the loss of a dear comrade. I had retired last evening and had 
not fallen asleep when I heard the cry 'The comatees (sledges) are 
coming.' Marvin was overdue several days and we were expecting 
him. Borup came to the door and said, 'Marvin is gone; he went 
through the ice.' Two Innuits (Eskimos) had started back with 
Marvin. 

"Koodlooktoh related how Marvin had gone ahead in the morn- 
ing with the comatees. Ross came to the big lead and attempted 
to cross. The thin ice gave way with him. The broken surface 
showed that he had made a gallant struggle to penetrate the thin 
ice to a firmer ice a few yards beyond. 

"The icy water and the colder air together in a few minutes 
must have benumbed his hands and rendered all efforts unavailing. 
The Eskimos arrived too late. They observed the footsteps termi- 
nating at the edge of the broken lead, the back of a koolatah (Innuit 
jacket) showing above the surface of the water. The following 



THE S.TORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 95 

morning the body disappeared. As is the Innuit's custom, a bag 
containing Marvin's clothing was left at the edge of the ice." 

''Alas! poor Marvin!" was Peary's answer when questioned 
about hirn. He went on to say : 

"All of my parties are composed of one leader, and four or five 
Eskimos. The leader has breakfast, then goes on ahead, leaving the 
Eskimos to pack and break camp. This is what Marvin did. He 
was several miles ahead of his sledges, when he came to a lead 
covered with young ice. Either he did not examine it carefully or 
was incautious, for when his Eskimos came up they found a great 
hole in the ice, in the center of which they saw Marvin supported 
by the air in the back of his kapeth, or blue fox coat. He had made 
a brave fight for his life. He had broken a big circle of ice, but the 
frigid cold soon chilled him, and his was one more life paid in tribute 
to the search for the Pole.'* 

When the Eskimos discovered him in the water they placed all 
of his clothing behind the pool and then made haste back to the ship, 
where they reported his death to McMillan and Borup. They made 
all haste to the scene of the tragedy, but on their arrival the body 
had disappeared, nor was it discovered. 

In answer to questions of newspaper correspondents concerning 
his trip, Peary gave the following information: 

"What was it that specially favored you on this trip?" asked 
one. 

"It was the wind principally, or rather the absence of it," Peary 
answered. "With no wind one is able to follow up the trail on the 
way back, and can return in half the time that it takes to go. Wind 
will shift the trail or fault it, as we say. This makes it necessary to 
break a new trail or lose time hunting for the old one. Without 
wind there is no waste of time on the return trip. The dogs and 
men feel better and the way is easy. They know they are going 
home, and they will go two miles with the Pole at the back to one 
while facing it. I make it a rule to travel north until two-thirds of 



96 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

my supplies are exhausted, knowing that I can return to my base 
of supplies in half the time." 

"To what do you attribute your success?" was the next ques- 
tion. "Was it luck in having better conditions or was it that you 
were better equipped for the work?" 

Commander Peary replied: "I expected that question. "It 
was a combination of both. The absence of strong, continued winds 
at right angles to my line of march helped me greatly. That was 
what always bothered me in former expeditions. Headwinds or 
winds from the south don't bother me a bit. Of course, the wind in 
your face makes bad sledging, but the cross-winds cause the ice to 
drift east or west and throw you out of your calculation. This time 
we had the wind dead ahead. That pressed the ice against the land 
which we had left and made good footing." 

"How about your equipment?"' 

"It was far superior to what I have had in former expeditions," 
answered the explorer. "The sledges were of a new type, with 
special features which made the work easier." 

"What were their special features?" he was asked. 

"They were improvements similar to those which a yacht 
builder would develop in a yacht, after he had been building racing 
craft for ten years. The strain on the dogs was reduced, the sledges 
were stronger, less liable to breakage, and went over the ice with 
twenty to thirty per cent less resistance. 

"You must understand that there is no riding in sledges when 
you go to hunting the Pole. If the man with the sledge is able to 
walk beside it, without any further work than the driving of the 
dogs, he considers himself lucky. The man with the sledge must 
bend over the handles, guiding it away from the rough places, 
lifting it by main strength over them sometimes, reducing the strain 
on the dogs or sledge wherever possible. He must have muscles of 
steel. He must be tireless. He must have a wind that does not 
give out. The nearest thing that I can think of to sledge driving is 
breaking up ,virgin soil behind a plow drawn by horses or oxen." 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 97 

"What training is necessary for the work?" somebody asked 
the Commander. 

"One can train for Arctic exploration as one would train for a 
prize fight," was the reply. "The training consists of good habits, 
with sound, healthy body as a basis to work on. One must be sound 
of wind and limb, to use the horseman's phrase, and he must not be 
a quitter. That's the kind of training that finds the Pole." 

Reverting to the program which he had followed, Commander 
Peary said: 

"After leaving the ship, every five or six marches, depending 
on the distance covered, a supporting party would be turned back, 
the best Eskimos and sledges continuing forward with the strongest 
men. In going up each man has a loaded sledge, while the returning 
men have one sledge, the other three being broken up to repair the 
broken sledges or the ones that are discarded. This was done at the 
end of the seventh, twelfth, seventeenth, and twenty-second marches, 
a march, going up, consisting of twelve to sixteen hours, and return- 
ing eight to twelve hours. 

"On the final dash from 87.57 degrees north latitude to 90 
degrees. It took five men, five sledges, and forty dogs. The five 
sledges were the pick of twenty-five which had started from the ship, 
and these five had been practically rebuilt. We had the forty best 
dogs and the four best Eskimos, three of whom had been on previous 
expeditions with me. They knew the ropes; they knew how to 
handle the sledges, how to overcome open leads. 

"Did the Eskimos express any emotion on reaching the Pole ?" 
Commander Peary was asked. 

"Not at that time," he replied, "but when we got back to the 
ice fringe of the Cape Columbia, when they knew there was no 
more leads to cross, no more broken ice to be fought, you would 
have thought they had all gone crazy." 

"Well, how did you feel, Commander ?" asked one interviewer. 
Commander Peary rose from his seat. He drew himself up to his 



98 THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 

full height. His voice was steady and solemn as he turned and 
faced the questioner. 

"Can't you imagine how a man feels after spending twenty- 
three years of the best years of his life, who had given parts of his 
body, the body God gave him, in accomplishing his ambition, when 
he attains it?" 



■ ■, ' 1.1 . . *' 



CHAPTER VIII 

Side-Lights on the Peary Expedition 

WHILE Commander Peary was winning the great prize of 
his life, some of his companions were having their share 
of experiences and adventures, and some of these, as told 
by the parties concerned, were so full of spice and vital spirit that 
they will serve as illuminating side-lights upon Peary's own story. 
Especially bright and boyish is that given by young George Borup, 
a Yale professor and athlete, the photographer of the expedition. 
It is given in a letter written to his father and given by him to the 
press. Good wine needs no bush, and the young fellow's graphic 
account of his adventures may speak for itself: 

''Dear Dad : Gee whiz ! I've had a wonderful trip, and wish in 
many ways we had been stuck up here for another year. The Com- 
mander has been just great to me from start to finish. He is kind- 
ness and consideration personified, and we fellows would do anything 
for him. After we got to Cape Sheridan last fall, as soon as the 
ice got strong enough to hold, the fall sledging of supplies began. 
I was out in the field for about a month, sledging about five hun- 
dred miles, but after one two- week trip came in with two heels, two 
big toes, and ball of one foot frost-bitten, which was damnably 
annoying, as it laid me up a month. Cause, inexperience. Was all 
right by the December moon, when I sledged some two hundred and 
twenty-five miles in ten days, taking provisions toward Cape Colum- 
bia. In the January moon I went with four Eskimos to a large 
glacier about one hundred miles from us, in the interior of the 
country. We went after deer, but didn't get any. However, hares 

(99) 



loo SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

were so thick you'd fall over them, and one day we struck a herd of 
a few millions, and annexed sixty. Not bad for one rifle and one 
shotgun with twenty shells. We cached them in an igloo till the 
next day, when we would come after them with the dogs and sledges. 

"Now about this time of the year cold was no name for it, for 
on the bed platform of my igloo in the mountain one night it was 
minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit, with two two-burner, four-inch wick 
stoves going, and you can guess what it was like outside — nearly 
minus 50 degrees. Well, the next day we went after them, I mean 
the hares, with the sledges and dogs, but on the way back, though 
we had only six miles to go, a terrific wind with a blinding drift 
came up, so we could not see ten yards. The Eskimos and I after 
fighting for a couple of hours to find our igloo gave up and sought 
shelter behind our sledges.- They had forgotten our snow knives 
and could not build an igloo, and for twenty-four hours we were 
hung up there. I didn't care do as they did, lie down and let the 
snow cover me up and go to sleep, for fear I'd freeze, so I had an 
unpleasant time until the wind died down enough for us to find our 
way back to our igloo, not half a mile away, which we did some 
twenty-four hours afterward. The way we then proceeded to pile 
in the grub would have made you sit up and take notice. We each 
ate a ten-pound hare, tea, pemmican, and biscuit. Luckily we came 
through uninjured, though I froze the ends of four or more fingers. 
We killed eighty-three hares this trip, average weight nine to ten 
pounds. In the February moon two Eskimos and I went hunting 
to Clement Markham Inlet for an eight-day trip, but saw nothing. 

*T left the boat for the northern trip February 19th. There 
was enough twilight to see to travel eight hours a day by, though 
the sun did not come back till March 6th, the last time I saw it in 
the fall being October 8th. I left Cape Columbia in command of the 
advanced supporting party on February 28th, with the thermometer 
at minus 50 degrees. At that temperature whisky froze stiff, alcohol 
so cold yoti can drop a match in it and it will not light, your nose 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION loi 

freezes every ten minutes unless you warm it up, and the ends of 
your fingers by this time are all excoriated from being repeatedly 
frost-bitten, etc. 

*'I went with the captain, who, with three men, was the trail 
picker. Three marches out I dumped off the load of all my party, 
and we headed for the land according to orders, some twenty-five 
miles distant in an air line. The Commander was to leave March 
I St, and was to give me instructions on meeting the returning party 
what to bring back. Marvin also was to come back with me. A; 
heavy wind from the east had gotten in the game the second day 
out, and faulted the trail, blowing the outside ice away to the west 
of the inside ice. The result was I missed Peary on my way to the 
land. After a good deal of lost time the original trail was finally 
found, and after doubling back some four miles in an unsuccessful 
attempt to overhaul him I lit out for Columbia because if I went any 
further after him I'd be unable to make land the same day and so 
lose valuable time. The march was a 'heller,' about eighteen hours 
long, with no time to eat ; the sea ice had drifted from ten to fifteen 
miles west of where I had left the land ice, and the total distance we 
covered was not far from forty miles, fully one-half of which I ran. 

*'The next day a heavy wind prevented our starting, as we 
couldn't see the trail. This wind was only in evidence about five 
miles out to sea, so Marvin, who had been sent back as soon as the 
Commander had found I'd gone by, managed to reach Columbia 
late that day. The next day, March 5th, after being held up by a 
wind for five hours, we got under way, but where the sea ice and 
the land ice meet there was a stretch of open water about one hun- 
dred yards wide, extending in either direction as far as the eye could 
reach. Being shy both of airships, boats, and submarines, and as it 
was a bit too cold for swimming, there was nothing to do but wait 
for it to freeze over or be jammed together. This took place six 
days later. These six days were the longest and most hellish I ,ever 
want to see. It isn't the physical side of the game which is bad; it's 



I02 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

the mental strain. We knew how vital it was to get out to Peary 
with otir loads and with a lot of alcohol. The tins of fuel he had 
with him went to the bad, or threatened to, the second day out, and 
without hot tea twice a day, with these temperatures, I doubt if man 
could live. I know I couldn't. Besides, the Eskimos were losing 
their 'sand,' wanted to put for the boat, said we'd all die out at sea, 
etc., and we were afraid of a wholesale desertion. 

"On the morning of the sixth day the lead closed, and two 
Eskimos, both afflicted with cold feet, came to land and said Peary 
had been held up four days by open water four marches out. We 
trail made by the captain and me eleven days before, over which the 
Commander had gone. A storm and the darkness forced us to halt 
got under way at once, and following their trail, found the original 
at the first encampment. Here one of my Eskimos went temporarily 
'bughouse,' and, stripped to the waist, began running around out- 
side, looking for trouble. We managed to get his clothes on after a 
while, and prevented him from getting frost-bitten. That day we 
made a forced march of twelve hours or more, and got to the third 
encampment. 

''The next day we marched about eighteen hours and slept at 
the fifth encampment. It was very cold, minus 53 degrees, and I 
froze my left heel, where I had done it last fall. The husky who was 
bughouse the night before thawed it out on his stomach. At the 
fourth encampment we got a note from the Commander saying he 
had left that camp the previous morning, March nth, after waiting 
six days. It said : 'It is vital that you overtake and give us fuel.' 

"We were now only one march behind him. Marvin called for 
a volunteer to go ahead and tell the Commander we were behind. 
The best man, named Sigloo, who afterward went to the Pole with 
Peary, responded, and after four hours' sleep went on. That was 
going some. After forty miles or so he went with only five gallons 
of alcohol, dumping off his loads. The rest of us were dead tired 
after the march the day before, and so were the dogs. The result 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 103 

was we merely held our own and did not gain on the flying leader. 
A good rest, and the next day we decided to catch him or 'croak/ 
and we did without trouble, as he waited. I guess the finish of that 
Marathon race of four and a half days to catch the main party, 
which had a head start of more than forty miles, when the Com- 
mander came out to shake me by the hand, was the best day of 
my life. 

^'MacMillan, my roommate, went back from here with a badly 
frozen heel; the doctor, too. I went on five more marches to about 
85 degrees 23 minutes, or about one hundred and thirty-six knots 
from thf^. land, when I was sent back in command of the second 
supporting party. On reaching the shore, in spite of two cripples, 
I went a hundred miles west to lay down a cache, in the eventuality 
of the Commander being driven to the west. Then I headed for the 
ship, fair heel-and-toe walking every bit of the way, covering about 
eight hundred miles. 

'T stayed on board seven days, when the remnants of the ill- 
fated third supporting party came in. As a rule the sledges come 
in at full speed, but these came in at a funeral gait, and Marvin 
nowhere to be seen. The first words of his two Eskimos were 
enough: 'Marvin gone — young ice.' The poor fellow was dead. 
The shock was pretty fierce, you bet. He was a dandy man, a fine 
leader, and devilish sandy. They came in Saturday at midnight. 

"Now, MacMillan and Marvin were to have gone to the most 
northern point of Greenland to lay down a line of supplies in case 
the Commander hit that coast like he did last time. Well, Marvin 
being gone, I took his place, and after hurrying preparations, Mac- 
Millan, as cool, nervy, sandy and strong as they make 'em, and I 
left the 'Roosevelt' in thirty-six hours and reached -Cape Morris 
Jesup, past Lockwood's furthest of 83 degrees 24 minutes, with 
ease. Here we stayed two weeks, 'Mac' going out to 84 degrees 15 
minutes to sound, and I making tidal observations, according to 
orders. Here we lived high, killing forty-seven musk oxen in four 



I04 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

hunts, and dogs and men had sirloin and tenderloin all the time. As 
none of us had had any fresh meat in three months, it was more 
than good. I got mixed up in one herd of sixteen, and took some 
good photos of them. Then we killed them all by gun. I beat all 
records, Duffy's included, when I got within ten feet of a big bull, 
held at bay by two dogs, to take his photo, and he charged the dogs, 
which happened to be on a line between us. I only hit the high 
spots for a hundred yards or so. 

"Coming back we made what I believe is a world's record in 
sledge traveling. The last two days or so we were all more or less 
snow blind. Rested up one week, then went off on a hunting trip. 
Killed four musk oxen, lOO miles away, and brought back a calf on 
the sledge alive to the boat, only to have it die the next day. When 
we got down to Eskimo land we put in about four days walrus 
hunting. In all, about seventy-two were secured. Some very 
exciting scenes occurred. Once a bull walrus, when we had engaged 
a herd of fifty, came up alongside of me, got his tusks on the gunwale 
of the boat so close to me that, to hit him with my rifle, I had to let 
her go off at port arms, as, if I fired it from my shoulder, the miuzzle 
would have been beyond his head. It was exciting, all right, to have 
his great, ugly face right alongside of me, when it would have been 
easier to smash him with my fist than gun. 

"On another occasion a big bull dived and put a large hole in 
the bottom, which, owing to its being double, we couldn't repair, 
and one man had to be kept baling. The walrus came up again, and 
I hit him in the head, wounding him badly but not killing him. He 
stayed down twenty minutes, and while we were all looking for him, 
smash! rip! bang! he came up under the stern, nearly knocked the 
bo's'un overboard, put a hole you could put both fists through just 
above the water line, dived, came up just fifteen yards off, gave his 
fierce battle cry of 'Huk! Huk! Huk!' and charged us. I got my 
artillery in action, and sunk him for keeps before he could do any 
more. When we reached the 'Roosevelt' we were half full of water. 
He was a scrapper, and don't you forget It. 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 105 

"The worst jar I ever had was when 'Mac' was shot. The 
bullet smashed through two partitions, missed one man's head by 
two feet, passed two feet over the mate, who was lying on his side 
on the partition, two feet over my head on the other side, and 
smashed poor 'Mac' all to hell. I heard the report in my sleep. 
Poor 'Mac,' saying: 'My God, he has got me,' jumped out of bed, 
too. I saw him hanging on to one arm while blood was everywhere. * 
Quoth he: 'Gee! this is worse than being wakened by an alarm 
clock.' Maybe he isn't sandy. He is nearly well now, thank God." 

The shooting here referred to came about in the following way : 
Peary had ordered one of the crew to clean a rifle that had been 
used in the walrus hunting a week before. MacMillan was asleep 
at the time in his bunk on the port side of the ship, two rooms 
removed from that in which the gun was being cleaned. He slept 
on his right side with his left arm thrown over his head. 

In ejecting a loaded shell from the rifle the man cleaning it 
accidentally exploded the shell. The bullet passed through the pine 
partition a few inches over the head of the man who was sleeping 
in the next room, went on through the room and the further parti- 
tion and struck MacMillan's left forearm, where it lay thrown across 
his face. It tore the flesh from the arm to the wrist, which it pene- 
trated ; thence it passed through his right shoulder and then through 
the finger of his left hand, which was clasping the shoulder. 

When Dr. Goodsell examined MacMillan's wound he found 
that extraordinary luck had shielded the Worcester Academy pro- 
fessor. Not a bone was broken and no arteries were severed. 

"Your letters, clipping, and rifle received from the 'Jeanie' 
August 23d. Many thanks. They were great. Also whaler's mail ' 
left by Adams, of the 'Morning Star,' two days later. It was bully 
of you to think of getting so much up to me, especially Mickleson 
and Amundsen, also letters from my friends." 

The "Jeanie" here spoken of was the relief ship sent north for 
Cook, also to bring back the young sportsman, Whitney. 



'io6 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

"I did most of the photograph work. The big camera was 
great, especially the finder, which, in taking photos of musk ox, etc., 
enables you to keep an eye on the brute, so as to be ready to make a 
quick getaway when he charges. A few yards start gained in this 
way is very useful in avoiding being caught in close contact with 
his horns. 

"I broke through young ice several times, but got out all right. 
It wasn't very cold when I went in. 

"Peary has been just great. This expedition from start to 
finish is a picnic compared to what sufiferings most Arctic expedi- 
tions go through. We went in parlor cars, thanks to the Com- 
mander who has worked the Arctic ice problem out and down to a 
science. Instead of the inactivity of previous expeditions in the 
winter, we were all out, most of us going 500 to 600 miles. Thirty 
years ago a man venturing on an extended journey of several hun- 
dred miles would have been committing suicide. Nares, the leader 
of the English expedition of 1875-6, says that men can't face a wind 
in a temperature of minus 30 degrees, but we did that, and a darn 
sight lower, in the wind. He also says, 'Only for life or death must 
a man go out in the fearful cold of March.' We went out all winter, 
and the English didn't start from the boat till April 2d. 

"Just one example of the advantage of dog power instead of 
man power. Beaumont, a man of indomitable energy, of the Eng- 
lish expedition, went to his furthest on the Greenland coast at thirty 
marches, which Mac and I covered in spite of two short ones on 
account of smashed sledges. He and his men were dead at the end, 
but we were going at a canter. 

"Greely, speaking of Lockwood and Brainard's work, says 
about as follows concerning an attempt to beat their mark furthest 
north, obtained on the Greenland coast, 'that only perfect ice condi- 
tions, indomitable energy of leader and men, would enable their 
record to be smashed.' They took a whole season to do it. We did 
it, coming back from the northern expedition with ridiculous ease. 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 107 

Just a picnic from start to finish. This is not blowing my horn, but 
simply to state a few facts that will speak for themselves. 

"These performances were due to the great system Peary has 
developed, to his breaking us in the best way so that when we 
started north in February Dr. 'Mac' and I, who had never been in 
the Arctic before, had stacked up against conditions many other 
expeditions would never dare face, and had sledged enough to make 
us veterans. Result, confidence in ourselves and equipment, and, 
what's more, as to the conditions likely to be met with. 

"Another point, in a country where the English found no game 
they died of scurvy. Where Greely, Brainard and Lockwood, fine 
men as they were, could obtain no game, we, through the Eskimos, 
never were in want of fresh meat, and, unlike what you will find in 
most books, I don't imagine you will find in my diary or in those of 
the others, which are fairly voluminous, any evidence that I was 
conducting a clinic or a continual squeal on the cold. 

"I can tell you this member of the class of 1908 has been up 
against some queer conditions, and I have learned many things since 
I saw you last. Possibly the queerest, but not the most uncomfort- 
able, was when my Eskimo and I had run out of fuel after being 
hung up at Cape Fashaw Martin for four days by heavy winds. We 
had to beat in the teeth of a howling gale and drifts so bad the dogs 
could hardly be induced to face them, which nipped and froze our 
faces for twenty-five miles, when it w^as so cold we had to run prac- 
tically the whole way to keep warm, but I could appreciate the 
humorous side of it. 

"One thing is sure, this Arctic sho\vs, as you have often told 
me when up against it good, and you are here a good deal of the time, 
there is nothing like going at everything with a grin and good- 
naturedly, like the Eskimos; and no matter how scared, as when I 
had an angry Eskimo, whom I had thrown, point his rifle at me and 
look as though he meant business, or when crossing ice which bends 
beneath you and the thermometer in the minus fifties, so if you break 



ro8 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

through, c'est fine — no matter how worried or put out, to keep that 
grin that won't come off there, and don't show a sign of fear, as the 
Eskimos are none too sandy anyhow, and it's up to you to furnish 
the ginger, steam, and sand to keep them jolHed and care free no 
matter how you feel. George Borup/' 

Of equal interest and of value in giving another and different 
phase of the northern experience is that of Professor MacMillan, as 
told on the deck of the "Roosevelt" to newspaper men while lying 
at Battle Harbor, Newfoundland. From the lips of this quiet- 
spoken, unemotional man from Massachusetts came tales the like of 
which are rarely told. He stood in the center of a group of corre- 
spondents on the grease-caked forward deck and as simply as he 
would recite the taking of a hazard or the toll of mallards in a 
shooting blind he told of finding relics of men who had given up 
their lives in pursuit of the aurora's end, and he read selections from 
the records dead men left behind them in the ice wilderness twenty- 
five years ago. The correspondents halted in their note-taking and 
tangled their memoranda because of the spell of his words. 

"Hardships !" he said, in answer to a question, "why, yes, there 
were some ; but they were forgotten each night after we had turned 
into snug igloos. The excitement of the whole thing far outweighed 
the dangers, and all in all, I don't believe you will find a man on the 
ship who realizes to-day that what we considered just a bully good 
time was really an event so important that you fellows chase us 
away up here to get the news of it. If they start to give us any 
demonstration in New York, we won't know how to take it. Of 
that I am certain." 

The man who stood with his fur-clad head leaning against the 
mast and his hands jammed into his pockets found the correspond- 
ents importunate. They wanted all he had to tell. He shrugged 
his shoulders good-naturedly and began to speak of remarkable 
adventures in the light of commonplaces. 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 109 

"I had to turn back at 85 degrees because I had frozen one of 
my feet pretty badly." Others had said that MacMillan kept up 
for days with his frozen foot before Peary himself ordered him back. 
"You see, we all wore grass between our deerskin socks and the 
soles of our kauiks or boots. Should that grass slip out and allow 
the soles of the feet to touch the boot insole itself the feet would 
surely freeze in cold weather. That's what happened to me. I had 
my foot frozen on March 15th, when the thermometer was down to 
58 degrees below zero. 

"So Peary ordered me dragged back to the ship on a sledge and 
left with me the command that when I got to the 'Roosevelt' I 
should go with Marvin on a geodetic survey and tidal measurement 
expedition to Cape Morris K. Jesup in North Greenland. But I had 
to take Borup instead of Marvin, because before we started the 
Eskimos had come to me to tell of Marvin's death. They hung their 
heads in the telling and pointed downward, repeating, 'Young ice, 
young ice.' We understood. 

"One day before we left the 'Roosevelt' for Greenland Borup 
and I tried a little stunt. There was a ribbon of open water near 
the ship and we stripped and plunged in. It was on April 17th, I 
remember, and the thermometer stood at 29 degrees above. When 
we got out we found that the ice wasn't as cold at the water and we 
ran up and down on the ice sheet near the ship for about five min- 
utes while the huskies yelled with laughter. They thought we were 
off our dot, first because we had taken a bath at all and then because 
of the manner of our taking it. 

"On April 19th we left the ship for the trip across Grant Land 
and North Greenland to Cape Morris K. Jesup. We had six sledges 
and forty-eight dogs with four Eskimos who helped drive. We took 
provisions according to Peary's order to put in caches along the 
Greenland coast in case he might be carried thither on his return 
trip as he had been on his return from the 87 degrees 6 minutes 
mark in 1906." 



no SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

Cape Morris K. Jesup, it is well to say, is the most northerly and 
nearly the most easterly point in that region, it being in the north 
of an island known as Peary Land, and the best place to leave an 
easterly food cache for the explorers, in case they were rapidly 
carried to the east, as in the former expedition. MacMillan 
continues : 

"On April 23d we crossed Robeson Channel and we reachecl 
Hand Bay, in Hall Land, the next day. In four marches we made 
the distance that the Lockwood and Brainard expedition took twelve 
days to cover. We reached Peary's cairn at Cape Washington 
which he had erected in 1900 at 83 degrees 30 minutes, on May 4th, 
and we got to Cape Morris K. Jesup two days later. We had been 
following the route of the Lockwood-Brainard party up as far as 
DeLong fiord and one day we found directly in our path a linen cuff 
with the name 'Lockwood' pencilled on the face of it. It had been 
there ever since Lockwood himself had passed that way. 

"It was on May 8th that Karko and Wee-Shah-Ok-Sie, two of 
the 'Roosevelt's' Eskimos, hurried up to us with a message from 
Peary." 

MacMillan went to his bunk and returned with a worn and 
soiled sheet of paper bearing the "Roosevelt" letterhead. It read : 

"April 28, 1909. 
"My Dear MacMillan : 

"Arrived on board yesterday. Northern trip entirely satisfac- 
tory. There is no need of Greenland depots. Captain Bartlett came 
aboard the 24th. Concentrate all your energies on tidal observa- 
.tions and line soundings north from Cape Morris Jesup. Use in- 
tended supplies for me for this purpose. 

"Commander R. E. Peary."' 

"You can imagine how happy that letter made me," MacMillan 
continued, "although it left so much unsaid. How successful had 
Peary's northern trip been? Did he mean that he had reached the 



SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION m 

Pole ? We hardly dared to believe it, although we had both left him 
with conditions favorable for the achievement. 

"We returned from Cape Morris K. Jesup to the ship as quickly 
as we could after completing our observations. 

"Oh, by the way, I haven't told you what I found at Fort 
Conger, have I ?" ejaculated MacMillan. 

The correspondents shook their heads. 

"Well, you may find it interesting," MacMillan remarked as a 
prelude to his tale. 

This did not belong to the expedition above described, but to 
one made in November, 1908, when the "Roosevelt" was in winter 
quarters at Fort Sheridan. He and Borup had started south on a 
hunting expedition. When ninety miles from the ship, in latitude 
81 degrees 44 minutes, they had come on the base of the Greely 
expedition. Fort Conger it was then and is still called. Here it 
was that the expedition had established a base after being landed 
from the steamer "Proteus" in 1881, and it was this last bulwark of 
safety that Greely and his men abandoned in 1883 after vainly 
waiting for the return of the "Proteus." The relief ship had been 
crushed in the ice, and the consequent tragedy of slow starvation 
at Cape Sabine, the point reached by them in their retreat south, is 
common in the annals of Arctic exploration. The particulars of the 
Greely horror will be given in a later chapter. 

The two hunters came upon the old stronghold of the Greely 
expedition in the middle of the Arctic night some time In January.' 
The storehouse, with its twenty-seven years of snow blanketing, 
still stood as it had been left the day that the sorely stricken men of 
the "Proteus" had forsaken it to turn southward — just a monument 
to the lure of the northland, there alone in the mystery of a dead 
world. 

MacMillan and Borup entered the place after cutting through 
the snowbanks blocking the door. They made a light and then, 
began to examine the relics of men some of whom had afterwards 



112 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

died in the misery of Cape Sabine's shores, while others escaped 
death only by a mere hairbreadth. 

One thing they found was an empty trunk with the name David 
L. Brainard on the cover. This MacMillan dragged out of the hut 
and used to protect himself while taking observations. 

Then in carefully written pages they found General Greely's 
report of the food caches he had made throughout the vicinity of 
Lady Franklin Sound. It was all very methodically and carefulty 
entered, an ironical testimony to the fruitlessness of man's precau- 
tions in the desolate ice waste. 

In a chest they found General Greeley's dress uniform, brass 
buttons and gilt epaulets untarnished and the navy cloth unfretted 
by moths, the coat being in so good a state of preservation that he 
wore it. The dress uniforms that other men had carried north with 
them in their vanity reposed in other chests. There were also cuff 
links, scarf pins and the whatnots of a man's toilet. 

Over in one corner was a school text-book, evidently a boy's 
book, which had seen much use. In a boyish hand on one flyleaf 
were written some words, and as McMillan now held the page open 
the correspondents copied: 

''Lieutenant Fred KisUngbury. 

"To my dear father from his affectionate son: May God be 
with you and return you safely to us. 

"Harry Kislingbury." 

Lieutenant Fred Kislingbury was one of the seventeen men 
who slowly starved to death at Cape Sabine. His body lay there 
under a cairn of rocks and the snow for many years. More recently 
it was brought home to his native city of Rochester, N. Y. 

On an opposite leaf were the names of several students, evi- 
dently at Assumption College, Sandwich, Ontario, and the address 
presumably of Harry Kislingbury, which was Fort Custer, Mon- 
tana. 



side-l:ghts on the peary expedition 113 

Another of the dead lieutenant's books lay near by. It was a 
hymnal of temperance songs and in the flyleaf was the inscription: 

"To Lieutenant Frederick Kislingbury, from his old friend and 
well wisher, the author, George W. Clarke, Detroit, Mich., May 18, 
1881." 

Between the pages of a magazine of the date of 1881 were 
developed plates that had belonged to George W. Rice, the official 
photographer of the Greely party. On the floor was a fugitive sheet 
of paper closely written. It was the dope sheet on all the best per- 
formances of the trotting horses in America in 1880. 

MacMillan brought out from a bearskin wallet another folded 
sheet of foolscap and spread it on top of one of the sledges. 

"This may interest you also," he said, and the correspondents 
craned their necks. There was a part of a humorous speech that a 
member of the party had prepared, possibly to enliven some holiday 
feast that was celebrated before the pinch of famine came — just 
two paragraphs and the formal opening, "Mr. Toastmaster.'' 

"There are some fair friends somewhere, who doubtless would 
be pleased to be about our festal board to-night," w^ere the words on 
the foolscap, "but the somewhat inclement weather probably has 
prevented their attending. I'm afraid the gentlemen assembled here 
to-night will have more than the usual post-prandial difficulty in 
returning to their homes, for the aurora borealis is confusing at 
best." 

Borup picked up in the hut an ocarina, one of those wooden 
wind instruments that look like a sprouted swxet potato. The lati- 
tude of Fort Conger was cut into the wood. 

There was much food in the hut, food which the Greely party 
had been forced to leave behind on the despairing march to the 
south. Hominy, coffee, tea, canned potatoes, canned rhubarb, bacon 
which Observer Ernest, long now in the New York Weather Bu- 
reau, had piled with his ow n hands, so he said ; hard bread and sugar 



114 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION 

— all these stores which had been denied to the twenty-five desperate 
men who wintered at Cape Sabine in 1883. 

McMillan and Borup ate some of the food and took other parts 
with them when they left. It was as sweet and clean as the day it 
was placed there. 

Other relics of former exploring expeditions these two from 
the "Roosevelt" found during the course of their long hunting trips. 
On Littleton Island, in frozen Smith Sound, they came across the 
remains of the frame house that Commander Hall, of the ship 
"Polaris," had erected at Thank God Harbor on his expedition of 
1 87 1. The Arctic winds had strewn most of the timbers over half 
the island, and nothing but some of the foundation posts remained. 
Near by were some brass fittings stamped "U. S. S. 'Polaris,' Wash- 
ington Navy Yard, 1871." 

Still another record of past incursions into the frozen silence 
fell to the hands of the "Roosevelt's" men. One day they came to 
the hut of an Eskimo, who called himself Jacob Schunah, away down 
a hundred miles and more south of the "Roosevelt," at Cape Sheri- 
dan. Asking for food, McMillan was surprised to have whale meat 
served on a real china plate. He turned the plate over when he had 
finished his meal and on the bottom was the single word "Gjoa," the 
name of the ship in which Roald Amundsen discovered a northwest 
passage to the Pacific in 1903. 

"I offered the woman a cup in exchange for the plate, and she 
jumped at the chance swiftly, lest I change my mind. When she 
got the cup she laughed at me, thinking she had bested me in the 
bargain, but I would have been willing to give a hundred cups for 
that one bit of china. 

"During our expeditions about Cape Sheridan we came upon 
the winter camp of the British party which went in search of the 
Pole in 1876 under Admiral Sir George Nares. 

"We found the beach literally covered with empty coal bags. 
Several tons of coal and a great quantity of firewood was piled 



SIDE-LIGHTS OX THE PEARY EXPEDITION 115 

against the cliff, crockery and cartridges were scattered about, in- 
dicating a hasty departure. The cartridges were still good after 
thirty-three years, but I imagine they would have done little execu- 
tion. They did not fit our guns, so we were unable to test them. 

"While the party was quartered here they used a small push- 
cart to carry their wood and water from the hills. This cart was 
taken away, but the tracks of its wheels, though made many years 
ago, were as plain as if made yesterday. I made some photographs 
which show how well they have been preserved." 

Professor McMillan in every case took to the ship all that was 
practical of the relics to be turned over to the Peary Arctic Club. 

We may close with the following telegrams, which tell their 
own story. Taft evidently is not especially eager to annex the 
North Pole. 

"William H. Taft, President of the United States : Have honor 
place North Pole your disposal. "R. E. Peary, U. S. N." 

"Commander R. E. Peary: Thanks for your interesting and 
generous offer. I do not know exactly what I could do with it. I 
congratulate you sincerely on having achieved, after the greatest 
effort, the object of your trip, and I sincerely hope that your obser- 
vations will contribute substantially to scientific knowledge. You 
have added luster to the name 'American.' 

"William H. Taft." 



CHAPTER IX 

Robert E. Peary, the Indomitable Polar Explorer 

To briefly summarize for the reader the earlier events of Com- 
mander Peary's life, before taking up the story of the great 
achievements which have brought him into the limelight of 
public approbation, we give the following concise account of his 
early history and of his services in the employment of the govern- 
ment before he began his famous explorations : 

Robert Edwin Peary is a Pennsylvanian by birth, having been 
born at Chester Springs, near Altoona, in the western section of 
that State, on May 6, 1856. Descended from a family of hardy 
Maine lumbermen, his immediate ancestors were Charles Peary and 
Mary (Willey) Peary. His father had migrated to Pennsylvania 
and became engaged in the lumber business there, but died in 1858, 
when his son was two years old. We next hear of the family in 
Portland, Maine, to which they had removed and where the boy's 
early life was spent and his primary education obtained. Having 
prepared for a higher education, he entered Bowdoin College, and 
graduated there with second honors in 1877. Throughout his college 
career the study that most fully interested his attention was the 
subject of Arctic exploration, which from early life had held a 
peculiar fascination for him, and was the subject of his most earnest 
reading. 

On leaving college he adopted the profession of civil engineer, 
for which he had fitted himself in his college career, his first employ- 
ment being as a land surveyor at Fryeburg, Maine. In 1879 he 
became engaged upon the Coast and Geodetic Survey at Washing- 
,ton, remaining in this field of duty until 1881. 

(116) 



• ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 117 

In the latter year the young surveyor passed the Navy Depart- 
ment examination for the admission of civil engineers, and was 
commissioned an engineer in the naval service, October 26, 1881.. 
He has since remained a civil engineer in the navy, having advanced 
from the rank of lieutenant to his present rank of commander. 

In this service Lieutenant Peary built a pier at Key West, 
Florida, in 1881. This the contractors had abandoned, as impos- 
sible to be built for the appropriation, but the young engineer com- 
pleted it at a cost well within the sum appropriated. He subsequently 
became sub-chief of the Inter-Oceanic Canal Survey in Nicaragua,. 
Central America, and in 1886 he was made engineer-in-chief of this 
important survey, in connection with which he invented some im- 
portant apparatus. In 1888 he was sent to superintend the building 
of the new dry-dock at the League Island Navy Yard in Philadel- 
phia. 

Previous to this he had taken the first step toward the realiza- 
tion of his boyhood dream, that of adventure and research in the 
polar region. Greenland was as yet the utmost goal of his ambition, 
and in 1886 he applied for leave of absence from his naval duties to 
visit this realm of his ardent hopes. 

His application was granted, and in July of that year he went 
north on the first of his many expeditions. It is interesting to be 
able to state that on this occasion he took with him Matthew Henson, 
the faithful mulatto servant who has been with him on every expedi- 
tion since and has formed one of his chosen companions on his 
dashes for the Pole. Henson was a Philadelphia boy who had made 
his way to Nicaragua, where Peary engaged him and has kept him 
as his personal attendant ever since. It was not Lieutenant Peary's 
purpose on this expedition to seek the Pole, but to explore the interior 
of ice-clad Greenland, in which no white man had gone inward be- 
yond the lowlands bordering the coast. It was an excursion not with- 
out its fruits. Starting from Disco Bay, near the seventieth degree of 
latitude, he penetrated many miles into the interior, and discovered 



ii8 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER -v 

that Greenland was an elevated island, the elevation, however, con- 
sisting of a mountain height of eternal ice, the depth of which no 
one knew. For all that could be told this icy elevation might cover 
an interior hill country or a low land like that of the coastal plain. 
The result of this expedition was to acquaint him with the state of 
affairs in the interior, information which served him in good stead 
in his crossing of Northern Greenland in 1892. In this field he was 
a pioneer, Nansen's crossing of Southern Greenland not being 
achieved until several years later. 

It was after this expedition that Peary's marriage took place, 
his bride being Miss Josephine Diebitsch, of Portland, Maine, whom 
he had known and loved since boyhood. As events proved, she was 
a born mate for an Arctic explorer, as she showed in their later 
careers. 

The disaster and suffering which characterized the termination 
of the "Polaris" and Greely expeditions did not tend to recom- 
mend Arctic exploration as a national enterprise to the Government 
of the United States. But a vast amount of highly valuable infor- 
mation had been obtained, not only by these expeditions, but also by 
the expedition sent out by the British Government under the com- 
mand of Sir George Nares. And, in addition to the information, a 
further knowledge had been gained, the knowledge that the same 
spirit of indomitable pluck, the same tireless energy, and the same 
loyalty and devotion to duty dominated both branches of the great 
English-speaking race. These facts stirred up the adventurous to 
further efforts. 

The discoveries along the north coast of Greenland opened up 
the very interesting question whether that land did not extend ' 
right up to the Pole itself. As far as any one had penetrated to the 
north of the coast, land was still to be seen farther on; it was an 
open question whether this great ice-covered country was an island, 
with its northern shores swept by the polar ice-floes, or whether it 
extended to the dimensions of a continent in the polar region. 



ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 119 

The problem appealed strongly to two explorers whose names, 
by reason of their exploits during recent years, have become familiar. 
They are Nansen and Peary. The former, by his dash for the Pole, 
during which he surpassed all previous records of the "farthest 
north," had dwarfed his Greenland performances; the latter, by his 
journey of 1,300 miles over the ice-crowned interior of Greenland, 
went far to prove the insular character of the country. 

Lieutenant Peary, failing to obtain government supplies for a 
scheme of an overland journey to the northern coast of Greenland, 
devised by him in 1891, was supported in it by the Philadelphia 
Academy of Natural Sciences. The expedition was necessarily small, 
but that did not affect its utility. It was, moreover, unique, by the 
inclusion of Lieutenant Peary's wife as one of its members; the 
account which she has given of her sojourn in high latitudes is one 
of the most interesting of books on the Arctic regions. 

The party left New York on June 6, 1891, on board the steamer 
"Kite," for Whale Sound, on the northwest coast of Greenland, the 
party including several prominent members of the Philadelphia 
Academy. The voyage was satisfactory in every way until Jtme 
24th, when an unfortunate accident befell the leader. 

The "Kite" had encountered some ice which was heavy enough 
to check her progress, and, to get through it, the captain had to ram 
his ship. This necessitated a constant change from going ahead to 
going astern, and, as there was a good deal of loose ice floating 
about, the rudder frequently came into collision with it when the 
vessel was backing. Lieutenant Peary, who was on deck during one 
of these manoeuvres, went over to the wheelhouse to see how the 
rudder was bearing the strain. As he stood behind the wheelhouse, 
the rudder struck a heavy piece of ice and was forcibly jerked over, 
the tiller, as it swung, catching him by the leg and pinning him 
against the wall of the house. There was no escape from the posi- 
tion, and the pressure of the tiller gradually increased until the bgne 
of the leg snapped. 



120 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 

Dr. Cook, who formed one of the party, immediately set the 
limb; but the sufiferer refused to return home in the return voyage 
of the ship, and when, a few days later, the "Kite" reached Mc- 
Cormick Bay, he was carried ashore strapped to a plank. 

The material for a comfortably sized house was part of the 
outfit of the expedition, and this was in course of erection the day 
that Lieutenant Peary was landed. For the accommodation of 
himself and wife, a tent was put up behind the half-completed house, 
and, as a high wind arose, the remainder of the party returned on 
board the "Kite." 

As the hours passed away the wind became stronger. The tent 
swayed to and fro, and Mrs. Peary, as she sat beside her invalid 
and sleeping husband, realized what it was to be lonely and helpless.^ 
She and her husband were the only people on shore for miles; her 
husband was unable to move, and she was without even a revolver 
with which to defend herself. What, she asked herself, would be 
the result if a bear came into the tent? She could not make the 
people on board the "Kite" hear, and she was without a weapon. 
Though throughout the stay in the north Mrs. Peary proved herself 
not only to be a woman of strong nerve and self-reliance, but also 
an excellent shot with either gun, rifle, or revolver, yet it was as 
much as she could stand when her anxious ears caught the sound 
of heavy breathing outside the tent. 

For a time she sat still, fearing to disturb her husband, until 
the continuance of the sound compelled her to look out. A school 
of white whales were playing close inshore, and it was the noise of 
their blowing, softened by the wind, which had so disturbed her. 
But so self-possessed was she over it that her husband did not know , 
till long afterwards the anxiety she had experienced during the first, 
night she spent on the "Greenland shore. 

The following day rapid progress was made with the house, 
and some of the party stayed on shore for the night, so that there 
was always some one within call of the invalid's tent until the house 



■ , ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 121 

was completed and he was removed into it. By that time the "Kite" 
had started home again, and the little party of seven were left to 
make all their arrangements for the winter. 

They had determined to rely entirely upon their own exertions 
for the supply of meat for the winter and also to obtain their fur 
clothing on the spot, killing the animals necessary for the material 
and engaging some of the local Eskimos to make up the suits. Deer 
would give both meat and fur, and as there was every prospect of 
the neighborhood affording these in plenty, as soon as the house was 
up and the stores packed, the majority started away in search of 
game. 

The place where they had erected their camp was a verdure- 
covered slope lying between the sea and the high range of bluff hills 
which towered about one thousand feet over them. In the spring 
the ground here was covered with grass and flowers, the bay in 
front was full of seal, walrus, whales, and other marine animals, 
anl along the hills behind experience showed that land game was 
present in abundance. The Etah Eskimos, the most northerly people 
in existence, lived along the shores of the bay and neighboring inlets, 
and, as soon as the camp was settled, they were kept busily employed 
in the making of fur garments, proving themselves docile an'd 
peaceful. It was often difficult for the members of the expedition 
to realize that the site of their camp, with the abundance of food to 
be had, was only from fifty to eighty miles distant from the spots 
where the castaways of the "Polaris" suffered so acutely and the 
members of the Greely expedition slowly starved, many of them to 
death. For more than a year the little party of seven lived in good 
health, without a suggestion of scurvy making its appearance and 
with only one fatality, this being accidental. 

The first hunting expedition was in search of deer, and every- 
body took part in it except the crippled leader and his wife. For 
two or three days the hunters were away, for they were fortunate 
in discovering a herd of deer which they followed until all were 



122 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 

bagged. With as many as they could convey of these the hunters 
set out for the camp. Their approach was duly signalled, and upon 
hearing that they were returning laden, Lieutenant Peary, for the 
first time, hobbled out of the house on crutches. As they came up 
he rested on one leg and his crutches, while he photographed them 
and their trophies, after which the double occasion was celebrated 
by a banquet in which venison played an important part. 

The deer skins were very important additions to the stock of 
material from which the winter clothing was to be made, but other 
kinds of skins were needed, especially of the marine animals, as well 
as some native tailors to fashion them into coats, hoods, mittens, and 
all the other articles of Arctic wear. A boat party was therefore 
despatched along the shores of Inglefield Gulf to spy out the locali- 
ties where walrus was to be found, and to induce some of the natives 
of a village, seen from the "Kite," to come over to the camp and sew 
the new garments. 

The party was successful in both instances, for a number of 
walrus were seen and an Eskimo family came back by the boat. The 
''huskies," as the explorers familiarly named these people, consisted 
of a man, his wife, and two little children, and they moved to the 
camp with all their belongings. The dress of these northern natives, 
which the explorers found it advisable to copy in most particulars, 
consisted of tunics and short breeches with sealskin boots reaching 
above their knees. The costume of both sexes was very similar, the 
only practical difference being in the tunic or jumper, that of the 
woman having the hood longer and deeper for the accommodation 
of her infant. They had broad, good-natured faces, not especially 
handsome nor intelligent in appearance, and distinctly dirty. 

In fact, the use of water, other than for drinking, did not appear 
to be known to them, and It was very much a question whether they 
had ever tried the experiment of a wash. Mrs. Peary was once 
tempted to give one of the little ones a bath, and she records how 
Intensely amazed it was at being put Into the water, although It was 

9 



^' ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 123 

more than two years old. Surviving" the shock, however, it mani- 
fested its pleasure by lustily kicking and splashing. Perhaps later 
it enjoyed a well-merited honor amongst its own people as the only 
one of the tribe who ever passed through the extraordinary ordeal 
of soap and water. 

In consequence of their innocence of water as a cleansing 
medium, the "huskies" had two distinguishing characteristics not 
entirely pleasing to more civilized people. They carried around with 
them a distinctly impressive aroma, and also thriving colonies of 
what are politely termed parasites. 

In the m^atter of clothes they carry their wardrobes on their 
backs. Fur garments do not wear out very rapidly, and, when a 
"husky" is full grown, the suit of clothes, made in honor of the event, 
remains in constant wear until one of two things happens. If the 
man kills a bear, he has a costume made of the skin and discards; 
the ordinary sealskin suit for it. If he does nofkill a bear, he wears 
the sealskin suit until it no longer keeps him warm, when he gets 
another. In their snow-houses during the winter and storms, if 
the temperature is too warm for them in their thick clothing, they 
take the clothing off; being a primitive people, their manners are as 
simple as their minds. 

The first arrivals at the Peary camp were, however, very useful 
people. There being no trees in this far northern region, and wood, 
consequently, being one of their most valued treasures, they were 
for some time unable to comprehend how the timber to build the 
house had been acquired. When they saw a fire made in the stove 
of refuse bits of wood they were s^U rnore amazed. Never before 
had they seen so much fire all at once, and the man, growing curious, 
kept on feeling the stove to see what the effect would be. When it 
was hot enough to burn his hand he developed a whole sbme respect 
for it, and afterwards preferred to look at the uncanny object from 
a distance. 

The problem of how the sewing was to be done was rather a 



124 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 

difficult one to the white people for a time. To allow the furs to be 
taken into the Eskimo tent was to invite the introduction of an insect 
population of which it would be impossible to get rid later. On the 
other hand, to allow the ''huskies" to enter the house too frequently 
was equally dangerous from the sanitary point of view. A com- 
promise was effected, by the Eskimo woman doing the sewing near 
the door of the house with some one always keeping an eye on her. 
Later on, when it was found that little danger of the spread of 
insects existed if reasonable care were taken, the workers sat inside 
the house. They were fairly deft in handling the needle, and the 
suits they made for the party were all excellent and serviceable. 
These were made on the native pattern, and the later experience of 
Lieutenant Peary and his comrade Astrup in their journey over the 
great ice-cap proved that the native pattern was the best for Arctic 
wear. 

The woman being set to work, a boat expedition in search of 
walrus was organized, with her husband as guide, Lieutenant Peary 
and his wife also going. They had not proceeded very many miles 
up Inglefield Gulf before a light breeze when they saw, on a floating 
piece of ice, a dozen or so of the animals huddled together apparently 
asleep. Sailing gently towards them, every one with a rifle ready, 
a sudden pufif of wind sent the boat ahead quicker and farther than 
was intended, and it struck the ice. The walrus, never having seen 
a sailing boat before, looked round at it without paying any more 
attention than if it had been another piece of ice. But the sight of 
so many valuable creatures within reach of his harpoon was too much 
for the Eskimo, and he buried tke weapon into the nearest. 

At once the attitude of the walrus changed. The wounded 
member of the tribe tried to escape, bellowing in its pain, and the 
rest slid off the ice into the water and surrounded the boat. Others 
from neighboring ice patches charged rapidly on to the scene, and 
the situation of the boat and its occupants was dangerous in the 
extreme. The x)oor Eskimo, his face showing the terror he felt, 



ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 125 

crouched down in the boat, evidently expecting to be annihilated by 
the furious animals that surged round. As they came up to the boat, 
they tried to get their powerful tusks over the gunwales, and, had 
one succeeded in doing so, there would have been little hope of any. 
one escaping. Yet to keep the angry crowd off was no easy matter. 

They swarmed all around, and not less than two hundred and 
fifty were estimated to be engaged in the attack. Lieutenant Peary, 
with his injured leg, sat in the stern of the boat, firing at them, and 
the other white men also kept up a fusillade, Mrs. Peary giving 
evidence of her strong nerve and courage by sitting beside her hus- 
band and loading the weapons as soon as they were emptied. The 
walrus came on in numbers to the attack, but when fired at all those 
nearest to the boat leaped out of the water, and then plunged out of 
sight. There was always the danger of one of the huge creatures, 
rising under the boat, and so capsizing it ; but the occupants had no- 
time to think of this. Directly one batch jumped and disappeared,' 
another hastened forward to meet the volley of bullets, and be in 
turn succeeded by another batch. 

The boat was meanwhile gradually approaching the shore, and 
as the water became more shallow the walrus exhibited less desire to 
come to close quarters, until, at last, the adventurers found that they 
had beaten off the last of the swarm. The main body had retreated 
far up the gulf, only a few remaining near. Several of those which 
had been shot, however, were floating on the surface of the water, 
and it was decided to go back and secure them, even at the risk of 
another attack. Already some of them were sinking, and many must 
have gone down while the fight was in progress. There was a 
necessity for haste if any of the slain were to be secured, and with 
rifles loaded and ready for a fresh attack, the boat was headed 
towards the floating carcases. 

The operation of securing them was performed without any 
interruption from the survivors, and a run was then made for the' 
shore, where the Eskimo said a lot of sealskins were "cached." This 



126 ^ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 

is the term used in the Arctic regions to denote the local method of 
storing food or possessions. A space is hollowed out in the ground, 
which, even in the summer time, is frozen hard a few feet below the 
surface. The articles to be stored having been placed in the space, 
it is covered over with stones, and the "cache" is completed. 
Throughout the winter the contents become frozen into a solid mass, 
which, protected by the stones or other covering, does not thaw out 
during the short summer, and so remains in a good state of preserva- 
tion for an almost indefinite period. 

Occasionally the "cache" fails to preserve the articles of, food 
entirely in that state which by the European is termed "fresh" ; but 
as they rarely have recourse to "cached" provisions, it does not 
matter very much. The Eskimo, who constantly preserves his win- 
ter supplies in this manner, has, happily for himself, easier notions 
about the state and quality of his food. This was brought home 
to the party very forcibly. They had visited several "caches," and 
obtained enough seal-skin for their purpose, and, having enjoyed 
some refreshment, were considering their return. The Eskimo, 
Ikwa, then told them that, as all the flesh at the camp was recently 
killed, he and his family did not like it. There was, he said, a fine 
seal cached in the neighborhood, which would form a delicious store 
for him and his family, and if the leader allowed him to move it to 
the boat, and convey it to the encampment, he would be prepared 
to yield some of it to the members of the party for their own special 
enjoyment. The seal was a beauty, he said, and just in the very 
pink of condition. The necessary permission having been given, 
Ikwa hurried away for his treasure. 

Shortly after, the members of the party noticed a strange pene- 
trating odor in the air which they at first attributed to the flayed 
walrus. It steadily increased, until they were unable to tolerate it, 
and started out to seek the cause. As they emerged from under the 
shelter of the jutting rock where they had been resting, they des- 
cried the little Eskimo staggering towards them under the burden 



ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 127 

of a seal almost as large as himself. The creature had been "cached" 
about two years, and was in such a state that gentles fell from it at 
every step the man took, and, as Mrs. Peary recorded in her diary, 
both the sight and the scent of it overpowered the white people. But 
to Ikwa it was just in good condition for eating, and he was espe- 
cially indignant when he was made to relinquish it. His clothes, 
however, would not part with the odor, and for many days the mem- 
Ijers of the expedition had reason to remember that Eskimo like their 
game high. 

As the time passed, and winter approached, evfery one was kept 
busy preparing for the long dark night, and for the journey over 
the ice-cap which was to be undertaken directly spring began. Sev- 
eral families of Eskimos were now residing near the encampment, 
the women mostly engaged in making winter fur garments for the 
members of the expedition, and the men in hunting. As dogs were 
required for the sledging expedition, constant bartering went on 
between the Eskimos and the white men, and the latter undertook 
occasional journeys to localities where other members of the tribe 
were encamped. 

A great deal of very interesting information was thus derived 
about the natives, who were, so far as known, the most northerlyt 
living people in the world. Mrs. Peary, as the first white woman 
they had ever seen, was a particular object of attention. As their 
custom is for men and women to dress very much alike, they could 
not quite understand Mrs. Peary's costume, and when the first ar- 
rivals saw her and Lieutenant Peary together, they looked from 
one to the other, and ultimately had to ask which of the two was the 
white woman. 

The tribe did not nufnber three hundred in all; they held no 
communication with the Eskimo farther south, and, except for the 
occasional visit of a sealer or a whaler, knew nothing of the outer 
world. None had ever seen a tree growing, nor had they ever pene- 
trated over the ridge of land which lay back from the coast, and over 



128 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 

which gHmpses were caught of the great ice-cap. The latter, they 
said, was where the Eskimo went when they died, and if any man 
attempted to go so far the spirits would get hold of him and keep 
him there. They consequently warned Lieutenant Peary against 
venturing. There was no seal up there; no bear; no deer; only ice 
and snow and spirits, so what reason had a man for going? 

Their belongings were extremely simple. A kayak, a sledge, 
one or two dogs, a tent made of walrus-hide or seal-skin, some weap- 
ons, and a stone lamp, comprised, with the clothes they wore, their 
property. Wood was the most valuable article they knew, because 
they could use it for so many purposes, and had so little of it. The 
possession of knives and needles was greatly desired; but scissors 
did not appeal to them, since what they could not cut with a knife 
they could bite with their close even teeth. Money had neither a 
suggestion nor a use with them; trade, if carried on at all, was 
merely the bartering of one article for another. 

The animals they liked best were dogs and seals; the former 
being their beast of burden and constant companion, the latter the 
provider of food, raiment, covering and light. Every seal killed 
belonged to the man who killed it, but the rules of the tribe required 
that all large animals should be shared among the members in the 
neighborhood*; the skin of a bear, however, remaining in the posses- 
sion of the man who secured it. But so unsophisticated and easy- 
going are these contented people that individual property scarcely 
exists with them; every one is ready and willing to share what he 
has with another if need be. The articles borrowed, however, are 
always returned, or made good if broken or lost. The boys are 
taught how to hunt, how to manage the kayak and sledge, and how 
to make and use the weapons of the chase, while the girls are taught 
how to sew the fur garments, and keep the stone lamp burning with 
blubber moss, so as to prepare the drinking water and the frizzled 
seal flesh they eat. This constitutes their education, and beyond 
this their chief desire is to live as happily as they can, which, ac- 



ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 129 

cording to those who have been amongst them, they manage to do 
merrily and well. 

During the visits paid to the different encampments by Lieu- 
tenant Peary and his wife, about a score of dogs were obtained, a 
number which would be sufficient to carry out the work of the en- 
suing spring. They were usually obtained in exchange for needles 
and knives, but the purpose for which they were needed always* 
formed a subject of wonder to the unambitious "huskies." 

By the time that a return was made to the house — Redcliff, as 
the explorers named it — the season was well advanced towards win- 
ter. The roof and sides were covered with walrus hide, and moss, 
gathered in the early autumn, was stuffed into any crevice through 
which the cold wind might find a way. The drifting snow soon piled 
up round the walls and over the roof, and the extra covering added 
to the warmth and comfort of those within. Fur clothing was now 
worn generally, and the little party, keeping in good health and 
spirits, managed to pass the gloomy period of winter with little to 
mar their contentment. 

Christmas they celebrated in proper form by having a sumptu- 
ous dinner, the menu of which, preserved by Mrs. Peary, is worthy 
of being quoted, as showing what can be done in a place where 
shops are unknown and darkness reigns at midday. The feast con- 
sisted of salmon, rabbit pie and green peas, venison with cranberry 
sauce, corn and tomatoes, plum-pudding and brandy sauce, apricot 
pie, pears, sweets, nuts, raisins and coffee: a very creditable repast 
to be put on the table of an Arctic residence. 

When every one had satisfied the demands of appetite, the table 
was cleared, and then respread for the benefit of the "huskies," who 
were brought in to gain their first experience of Christmas fare. A 
somewhat different assortment was prepared for the visitors, the 
dishes consisting of milk punch, venison stew, cranberry tart, bis- 
cuits, sweets, raisins and coffee. This was certainly a variation to 
their ordinary food of seal or walrus flesh and water, and they 



I30 ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLOREfR 

showed their appreciation of it by leaving no crumbs and sticking 
to their seats until, at half -past ten, tliey were gently told that it was 
time to go home. Then they left, but the next day they came again, 
and were perhaps not the first who, having enjoyed a hearty Christ- 
mas dinner, felt disposed to complain that Christmas can onl}^ come 
once a )^ear. 



CHAPTER X 

The Search for the Northwest Passage 

ARCTIC exploration has had a double purpose, one commer- 
cial, the other geographical. The first consisted in efforts 
to find an available water route north of America or of 
Europe and Asia, by which the long journey around the southern 
capes of America and Africa might be avoided and easy intercourse 
between the East and the West be attained. These long-sought-for 
channels were known as the Northwest and the Northeast Passages. 
They have been discovered only in our own days, and their hoped- 
for commercial utility has proved an illusion, through the almost 
insuperable difficulties which they present. 

The second consisted in efforts to reach the North Pole, and, 
as supplementary to this supreme triumph, to gain a general idea 
of the geography of the polar regions. vSuch were the purposes 
of Peary and others in their explorations. Both the objects named 
have led to adventurous voyages, and many important results have 
been attained, while the romantic and perilous incidents involved 
have been innumerable. 

It may be said here that the earliest voyages of modern navi- 
gators in this direction had no definite purposes. What they did 
was the work of chance. Yet as they resulted in the discovery and 
settlement of Greenland — the ice-clad island which forms the 
American gateway to the Pole — some brief mention of them seems 
here in place. 

The voyagers Here referred to were the hardy and daring 
Norsemen, the Viking adventurers who for so many years kept 

(131) 



132 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

Europe in dread and turmoil. Direct descendants of these bold 
navigators are Nansen, one of the leaders in polar research; 
Amundsen, the first to sail through the Northwest Passage, and 
Andree, who daringly ventured in a balloon into the unknown 
North. These men are of the type of the Vikings of old, who in 
their single-masted, many-oared galleys dared the storms of the 
Atlantic, sailing without compass or chart many leagues into the 
trackless seas. 

In the year 860 Noddoddr, one of these reckless mariners, 
ventured so far from land that he was caught in a gale and blown 
on the shores of an island in the northern seas, which, from its 
frozen aspect, he named Iceland. This discovery, more than a' 
thousand years ago, was the first made by European navigators in 
the Arctic waters. The next came in 876, when a second Viking 
sailor, driven far beyond Iceland by a storm, saw in the distance 
the coast of an unknown land, on which, however, he did not land. 

Though this discovery w^as reported to his countrymen, more 
than a century elapsed before an expedition was made to the un- 
known land thus seen. Then, about the year 981, Eric the Red, 
outlawed in Iceland for the then very ordinary offense of killing 
one of his foes, took to the seas and sailed west in search of this 
untrodden shore. He reached it in due time, discovered a country 
still more ice-clad than Iceland, but named it Greenland as an induce- 
ment to his countrymen to settle there. The settlement made by 
Eric existed for some five centuries, and was the basis of the first 
discovery of America. The continent was first seen in 985 by a 
vessel blown out of its course by a gale, and in 1000 it was visited 
by Leif, son of Eric the Red, at a place named by him Vineland 
(wine-land), but no permanent settlement was made. 

This discovery of Greenland is of much interest, since the 
Danish settlements in that island have been very useful as the basis 
of modern explorations. The early Norse settlement was abandoned 
about the period of the discovery of America by Columbus, it being 



THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTH IV EST PASSAGE 133 

decimated by the "black plague" and troubled by marauders. But 
about a century later the island was revisited by Captain John 
Davis and was claimed by Denmark. The present Danish settle- 
ments were founded in 1721, the most northern station (72 degrees 
48 minutes north latitude), being Upernavik, a name of frequent 
occurrence in the stories of Arctic voyages, as a useful starting 
point into the unknown. 

The earliest purpose in view in the prosecution of polar voyages 
was the commercial one, the discovery of an easy passage through 
or around the American continent by which commerce with India 
might be facilitated. The lack of knowledge of the width of the 
continent led to hopes that a water channel might be found across 
it to the Pacific, and various rivers were ascended with this end in 
view, such as the Chickahominy by Captain John Smith and the 
Hudson by Captain Henry Hudson. Hopes also of finding a prac- 
ticable passage around the continent on the north were early enter- 
tained, and these led to the first Arctic expeditions, those of 
Frobisher, Davis and others. 

England was early in this field, the pioneer expeditions starting 
from that land. The earliest on record was an expedition said to 
have been sent out in 1527 by Henry VHI of England for "dis- 
coverie even to the North Pole, two faire ships well manned and 
victualled, having in them divers cunning men to seek strange 
regions." Its success was small, one of the two ships sent being 
lost north of Newfoundland, while the other returned to England. 

The next expedition that calls for attention was that under 
Sir Hugh Willoughby, who sailed from England in 1553, '"for the 
discovery of regions, dominions, islands, and places unknown." He 
set sail with three vessels, the largest being of 160 tons. These 
crossed the North Sea in company, sighting the coast of Norway 
about the middle of July. In September they were parted by a 
storm, two of the ships reaching the coast of Russian Lapland, 
where it was determined to pass the winter. Here Sir Hugh and 



134 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

all his companions perished, probably from scurvy. The third 
ship, under Richard Chancellor, reached the mouth of the Dwina, 
in the White Sea, and entered the harbor of Archangel. Here the 
mariners were well treated by the Russians and returned to Eng- 
land in the following summer. Thus ended the first northeast^ 
expedition. Its chief result was to open commercial relations be- 
tween England and Russia. 

The first expedition with any notable results was that of Sir 
Martin Frobisher in 1576 to the northwest. He tells us, in the 
quaint diction of his day, that, "being persuaded of a new and 
nearer passage to Cataya (Cathay) than by Capo d'buona Sper- 
anza, which the Portugalles yeerly use, began first with himselfe 
to devise, and then with his f riendes to conferre, and layde a playne 
platte unto them, that that voyage was not only possible by the 
northwest, but also, as he coulde prove, easie to be performed." It 
was "the only thing left undone in the world whereby a notable 
mind might be made famous and fortunate." 

Sailing from Deptford with three small barks, he explored the 
coast of Greenland, discovered the strait now known by his name, 
and found on its shores a black mineral in which was visible a 
yellow substance resembling gold. This unlucky find put an end 
to the main purpose of the expedition, the ships returning to Eng- 
land with some of the illusory substance, which, on examination by 
London goldsmiths, was pronounced to be gold. The announce- 
ment raised high enthusiasm in the coimtry, and a new and large 
expedition was fitted out and despatched in 1577, returning with an 
abundance of the black earth. In 1578 it went again and this time 
brought back a great cargo of the deceptive material. With this 
the story ends; we hear no more of Arctic gold. The stufif was 
doubtless tested and found to be what is designated as "fools' 
gold," but no mention was made of the result, and the record came 
to a sudden end. 

The historian of Frobisher's expedition gave many details of 



THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 135 

their experience with the Eskimos, and presents us with a graphic, 
description of these people, one well worth repeating. "They are," 
he says, ''of ih% color of a ripe olive. They are men very active and 
nimble. They are a strong people and very warlike, for, in our 
sight, upon the tops of the hills, they would often muster themselves 
after the manner of a skirmish, trace their ground very nimbly, and 
manage their bows and darts with great dexterity. They go clad 
in coats made of the skins of beasts, as of seals, deer, bears, foxes, 
and hares. They have also some garments of feathers, being made 
of the cases of fowls, firmly sewed and compacted together. In 
summer they use to wear the hair side of their coats outward, and 
sometimes go naked for too much heat; and in winter, as by signs 
they have declared, they were four of five fold upon their bodies, 
with the hair for warmth turned inward. These people are by 
nature very subtle and sharp-witted, ready to conceive our meaning 
by signs, and to make answer well to be understood again; and if 
they have not seen the thing whereof you ask them, they will wink 
and cover their eyes with their hand, as who would say, it hath 
been hid from their sight. If they understand you not whereof you 
asked them, they will stop their ears. They will teach us the name 
of each thing in their language which we desire to learn, and are 
apt to learn anything of us. They delight in music above measure, 
and will keep time and stroke to any tune you shall sing, both witH 
their voice, head, hand, and foot, and will sing the same tune aptly 
after you. They will row with our oars in our boats, and keep a 
true stroke with our mariners, and seem to take great delight 
therein." 

Frobisher was quickly followed by another notable navigator, 
John Davis, who made three voyages between 1585 and 1587 in 
search of a northwest passage, discovering the strait which bears 
his name and advancing as far as the 72d degree of north latitude. 
His remark that he found himself "in a great sea free from ice, 
neither was there any ice toward the north, but a sea free, large, 



136 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

and very salt and blue, and of unsearchable depth," added nothing 
to the discovery of the passage beyond the renewed conviction of 
that day that the way toward the north was without impediment. 

As the discoverer, or pioneer, of the Baffin's Bay route Davis 
occupies a place of renown among Arctic navigators. On his final 
voyage he reached the latitude of 72 degrees north, two hundred 
and fifty miles farther north than any explorer before him had 
attained, and discovered a little cape which he named Sanderson 
Hope. It is in the vicinity of the present Danish colony of Uper- 
navik. Confident that he had found the long-sought passage to 
Cathay (China), he fancied that an open route in that direction 
lay before him. But he was soon undeceived, finding himself sur- 
rounded by huge icebergs, to escape which needed all his skill and 
seamanship. For three days he sought an outlet, but the great bay 
was everywhere covered with thick ice, and he was forced to put 
back, reaching England with his battered and leaking ship on the 
T5th of September, 1587. 

One more expedition was sent out in the sixteenth century, 
this being a Dutch enterprise under William Barentz, who sailed 
north in the European seas, reaching a much higher latitude than 
that gained by Davis. In his first voyage, in 1594, he attained the 
latitude of yy degrees 21 minutes, near Cape Nassau, Nova 
Zembla, and in 1 596 reached the higher latitude of 79 degrees 49 
minutes, ofif North Spitzbergen, in the region now known as 
Barentz Sea. 

We have next to deal with an English explorer, but one best 
known for his exploits in the Dutch service, the famous Henry 
Hudson. His reputation, indeed, rests mainly upon his discovery 
of Hudson River and New York Bay, but he also ranks high among 
Arctic navigators, making in all four voyages to the icy seas, and 
sailing due north, northeast and northwest. He was the first whose 
direct purpose was the discover}^ of the North Pole, and he made a 
record of high latitude that was not surpassed during the two 
centuries following. 



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LEADERS OF FAMOUS ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS 



Captain George E. Tyson 
Captain Charles F. Hall 



Dr. Isaac H. Hayes 
William Scoresby 



THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 137 

His first voyage was made in 1607, under the direction of the 
Muscovy Company; and the order he received was straightforward 
and simple in the extreme: "Go direct to the North Pole." And 
this order he attempted to carry out in a small decked boat, with a 
crew of ten men and a boy ! He steered due north along the shores 
of Spitzbergen, until he reached latitude 80 degrees 23 minutes; 
and then, for want of provisions, and owing to the approach of 
winter, was forced to return. When we consider the perilous char- 
acter of the navigation of these northern seas, we cannot but marvel 
as we record that Hudson's little barque arrived safely in the 
Thames, on the 15th of September. 

In the following year he sailed again, but took a northeasterly 
direction towards Nova Zembla. His ship was somewhat larger, 
and his crew numbered fourteen men. But he ascended no higher 
than 75 degrees, and returned to England in August. 

His third voyage, in 1609, was made in the Dutch service and 
led to unintended results. At first he made for the northeast, but 
being baffled by the ice-drifts, he sailed west, and touched the 
American coast in the neighborhood of New York Bay. He dis- 
covered the noble river which still bears his name and on whose 
banks the Dutch afterwards established a colony. Among their 
descendants long flourished strange legends of Hudson and his 
men. 'Tt was affirmed," says Washington Irving, "that the great 
Hendrik Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept 
a kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the 'Half- 
Moon'; being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enter- 
prise, and keep a guardian eye upon the river and the great city 
called by his name." 

In 1610 he made his fourth and last voyage, in a vessel of 
fifty-eight tons, stored and provisioned for six months. Frobisher 
Strait was gained on the ist of June. Then came a desperate 
struggle against floating ice and contrary winds ; but Hudson kept 
perseveringly to the westward, passed through the strait now known 



138 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

by his name, reached the extreme point of Labrador, which he called 
Cape Wolstenholm, and discovered an island-group to the north- 
west, the southern headland of which he named Cape Dudley 
Digges. Here a vast sea broadened before his astonished gaze ; and 
the restless waters for the first time rolled and seethed under an 
English keel. 

Into this great bay or sea, Hudson Bay, as it is now known, he 
sailed for several hundred miles; and winter coming on, he en- 
camped his crew upon Southampton Island, and hauled his ship 
aground. The hardships he and his men endured were terrible, for 
they were ill-fitted to contend with an Arctic winter, and had neither 
sufficient provisions nor stores. Hudson bore the trial uncomplain- 
ingly, sustained by a noble enthusiasm; but his followers grew 
discontented, and then mutinous, and on Hudson's attempting to 
resume the enterprise at the return of spring, they seized upon him, 
his son, and several sick sailors, and threw them into an open boat, 
in which they had previously stowed a fowling-piece, some gun- 
powder and shot, a small quantity of meal, and an iron pot (June 
21, 1611). The castaways were voluntarily joined by John King, 
the carpenter, who refused to take part in and bear the shame of 
mutiny, remaining faithful to his captain to the last. 

To the last it proved, for Hudson and his companions were 
never more heard of. They perished miserably in that inland sea 
or on its barren shores. The ringleader in the mutiny and five of his 
companions were slain in an encounter with the natives on an 
island near Cape Digges. Of the remainder, some died of starva- 
tion, the survivors managing to carry the ship back to the British 
Isles. Thus ended in disaster one of the most promising of the 
early expeditions. 

The tidings of the great stretch of open water discovered by 
Hudson deeply impressed the imagination of the adventurers of 
his time. It seemed to them that here was the route to Asia which 
had been so diligently sought. It was not long before others fol- 



THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 139; 

lowed in his track, the first being Captain Button in 161 2, who 
reached and named Nelson River, at the spot where the Hudson 
Bay Company founded its first post. He also discovered the Mans- 
field Islands, in latitude 65 degrees. Two years later a voyage was 
made by William Baffin and in 161 6 one by William Baffin and 
Robert Bylot, which resulted in the discovery of Whale Sound, 
Smith Sound, Jones Sound, Lancaster Sound, and Baffin Bay. 
These were notable additions to the chart of the Arctic World, 
which British enterprise was gradually defining and filling up; but 
by Baffin's contemporaries they were discredited. As Mr. Mark- 
ham observes, the memory of a bold and scientific navigator had to 
wait many weary years for that full justice which comes at last It 
was two centuries before another vessel forced her w^ay into the 
"North Water" of Baffin Bay, and the great pilot's discoveries 
were almost forgotten. On maps published as late as 1818, may be 
seen a circular dotted line to the west of Greenland, with this legend, 
— "Baffin's Bay, according to the relation of William Baffin in 161 6, 
hut not now believed/' 

The all-important discovery made by Baffin was that of the 
great channel leading out of his bay in a northerly direction, and 
opening upon the vast and still unknown region which stretches 
towards the Pole. He named it after Sir Thomas Smith, the gov- 
ernor, we may almost say the creator, of the East India Company; 
and a man of great sagacity, liberality, and enterprise. Of this 
sound Baffin says: "It runneth to the north of 78 degrees, and is 
admirable in one respect, because in it is the greatest variation of 
the compass of any part of the world known; for, by divers good 
observations, I found it to be above five points, or 66 degrees, varied 
to the westward, so that northeast by east is true north, and so of 
the rest. Also this sound seemeth to be good for the killing of 
whales, it being the greatest and largest in all this bay." It is now 
regarded as affording the only practicable route to the Polar Sea. 
Several other voyages, of no great importance, took place 
i« 



I40 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

during the remainder of the seventeenth century, but for a century 
after 1631, when Captain Thomas James made a voyage chiefly 
notable for its misadventures, the search was abandoned. It was 
in the service of -Russia that it was resumed in 1741, when Vitus 
Bering, or Behring, a Dane, explored the coast of Kamchatka for 
the Russian government and sailed into the strait since known by 
his name. Several other Russian expeditions brought up the work 
to the opening of the nineteenth century, and two British expedi- 
tions worthy of mention took place. 

The first was that under Captain J. C. Phipps, sent out by 
George III, at the instance of the Royal Society of the Admiralty, 
in 1773, toward the regions north of Spitzbergen. In his "Journal 
of a Voyage to the North Pole," the captain entered the sea "during 
a summer affording the fullest examination; but the wall of ice 
between latitudes 80 and 81 degrees showed for more than twenty 
degrees not the smallest appearance of any opening." The highest 
latitude reached was 80 degrees 48 minutes. In this expedition 
Horatio Nelson, then a boy of fifteen years of age, took part, and 
exhibited a bravery and cool courage prophetic of his subsequent 
career. 

The other was the famous one of Captain Cook, who was sent 
to make discoveries in the Pacific and to return to England, if pos- 
sible, by way of Bering Strait, making a northeast passage. His 
ships were totally unfit for this purpose, and after exploring the 
strait and reaching Ivy Cape, he was driven back by the ice and 
forced to return by the southern route. 

It is well here to speak of another expedition, not that it had 
any special importance, but from the fact that it was the first 
authentic American attempt and was backed by Benjamin Franklin. 
Here is a letter from Franklin concerning it: 

"Philadelphia, February 28, 1753. 
. . . "I believe I have not before told you that I have pro- 
vided a subscription here of £1500 to fit out a vessel in search of a 



THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 141 

northwest passage. She sails in a few days, and is called the 'Argo,' 
commanded by Mr. Swaine, who was in the last expedition in the 
'California,' and author of a Journal of that voyage in two volumes. 
We think the attempt laudable, whatever may be the success. If 
she fails, 'magnis tamen excidit ausis.' With great esteem, 

"Benj. Franklin. 
"Mr. Cadwalader Golden, N. Y." 

Of this voyage the Pennsylvania Gazette, "printed for Ben- 
jamin Franklin, postmaster, and D. Hall," November 15, 1753, 
says: 

"Sunday last arrived here the schooner 'Argo,' Captain Charles 
Swaine, who sailed from this port last spring, on the discovery of a 
northwest passage. She fell in with ice off Cape Farewell ; left the 
eastern ice and fell in with the western ice, in latitude 58 degrees, 
and cruised to the northward to latitude 63 degrees, to clear it, but 
could not; it then extending to the eastward. On her return to the 
southward, she met with two Danish ships bound to Ball River and 
Disco, up Davis Straits, who had been in the ice fourteen days off 
Farewell, and had then stood to westward and assured the com- 
mander that the ice was fast to the shore all above Hudson's Straits 
to the distance of forty degrees out: and that there had not been 
such a severe winter as the last these twenty- four years that they 
had used that trade; they had been nine weeks from Copenhagen. 
The *Argo,' finding she could not get round the ice, pressed through 
it and got into the strait's mouth the 26th of June, and made the 
Island Resolution, but was forced out by vast quantities of driving 
ice, and got into a clear sea the first of July. Ok the 14th, cruising 
the ice for an opening to get in again, she met four sail of Hudson's 
Bay ships endeavoring to get in, and continued with them till the 
19th, when they parted in thick weather, in latitude 62 J^ degrees, 
which weather continued until the 7th of August. The Hudson 
Bay men supposed themselves 40 leagues from the western land. 



142 THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 

"The 'Argo- ran down the ice from 63 degrees to 57 degrees 30 
minutes, and after repeated attempts to enter the straits in vain, as 
the season for discovery on the western side of the Bay was over, 
she went on the Labrador coast, and discovered it perfectly from 
56 to 55 degrees, finding no less than six inlets, to the heads of all 
of which they went, and of which we hear they have made a very 
good chart, and have a better account of the country, its soil, pro- 
duce, etc., than has hitherto been published. 

"The captain says it is much like Norway, and that there is no 
communication with Hudson's Bay through Labrador where one 
has heretofore imagined, a high ridge of mountains running north 
and south, about fifty leagues within the coast." 

Not satisfied with the results of this attempt. Captain Swaine 
again sailed in the "Argo" the following spring, and the Pennsyl- 
vania Journal and Weekly Advertiser of Thursday, October 24, 
1754, published in Philadelphia, says: 

"On Sunday last arrived here the schooner 'Argo,' Captain 
Swaine, who was fitted out in the spring on the discovery of a north- 
west passage, but having three of his men killed on the Labrador 
coast, returned without success." 

For the eventual navigation of the Northwest Passage the 
credit belongs to Captain Roald Amundsen, who succeeded in cov- 
ering the long-sought route in 1903-1905, as already described. 



CHAPTER XL 

The Ross and Parry Polar Voyages 

INTO the seas containing the goal sought by Peary and Cook in 
the early years of the twentieth century expeditions, led by 

daring navigators, pushed in the early nineteenth, the first of 
these being Captain Scovesby, a successful and adventurous whaler. 
It was in a whaling voyage that he made his famous northward trip. 
While lying- to for whales, in 1806, in the seas east of Greenland, 
the idea entered his mind to make a bold dash toward the Polar Sea, 
which he believed lay open to the north. 

With a boldness and energy rarely equaled he pushed his ship 
far through the pack ice, succeeding in the end in clearing this 
formidable barrier and entering ''a great openness or sea of water," 
in which he reached the latitude of 81 degrees 30 minutes, the 
highest as yet attained. He added largely to our knowledge of the 
east coast of Greenland and of the phenomena of the Arctic region. 

The next to follow was Captain John Ross, in 1818, with two 
vessels, the "Isabella" and the ''Alexander," the latter commanded 
by Lieutenant William Parry, the man with whom we are here 
principally concerned. With Captain Ross sailed as a midship- 
man his nephew, James Ross, also of fame in polar annals. Both 
these men ended their careers as admirals in the British navy, 
under the titles of Sir John Ross and Sir James Ross. 

This expedition followed the usual Baffin Bay route and in 
latitude 75 degrees 54 minutes met with a village of Eskimos who 
had never before seen white men. They curiously queried : "Who 
are you? Whence came you? Is it from the sun or the moon?" 

To these Ross gave the name of Arctic Highlanders, a desig- 

(143) 



144 THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 

nation since then often used. He was the first to discover cHffs 
covered with seeming red snow ; this is now known to be due to the 
growth in the snow of a minute red lichen. At the farthest point 
which he reached, Ross was too far south to discern more than 
the outHne of the land near Smith Sound; but he named the bold 
headlands which guard the entrance to this famous channel after 
his two ships, Cape Isabella and Cape Alexander. 

Descending the west side of the bay, he found the waters clear 
of ice, and extremely deep. The land was high, and the range of 
mountains, in general, free from snow. A noble inlet, fifty miles 
wide, with cliffs on both sides, now offered itself to view, and the 
ships entered it on the 29th of August. But they had scarcely 
accomplished thirty miles when Ross, to the surprise and vexation 
of his officers, declared that he saw land stretching across the inlet 
at a distance of eight leagues, and ordered the ships to tack about/ 
and return. To this imaginary land he gave the name of Croker 
Mountains. Parry, on the other hand, was of opinion that this 
great inlet, now recognized as the Lancaster Sound of Baffin, was. 
no land-locked bay, but a strait opening out to the westward; and 
on the return of the two ships to England he openly declared this 
opinion. The English public supported the energetic Parry; and, 
after a vigorous wordy warfare, the government resolved to place 
him in charge of the "Hecla" bomb-ship and the "Griper" gun- 
brig, with which he sailed for the north on the 5th of May, 18 19. 

On the 15th of June Parry came in sight of Cape Farewell, 
and sailed on up Davis Strait and Baffin Bay as far as 73 degrees 
north latitude, where he found himself hemmed in by masses of ice. 
On the 25th, however, a way opened up, and Parry pushed forward, 
boldly and energetically, until he reached Lancaster Sound. Here 
he was on the ground made familiar by the expedition of the pre- 
ceding year, and was soon to determine whether Ross' supposed 
mountains had any real existence. "It is more easy to imagine 
than describe." says Parry, "the almost breathless anxiety which 



THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 145 

was now visible in every countenance, while, as the breeze increased 
to a fresh gale, w^e ran quickly up the sound." 

As they advanced, the "Croker Mountains" disappeared into 
thin air, and Parry proceeded as far as the mouth of a great inlet, 
which he named Barrow Strait. Entering this, he sailed onward 
to Prince Regent Inlet, which, with various capes, bays and islands, 
he named and surveyed. On approaching the magnetic (not the 
actual) north pole, he found his compasses rendered almost useless 
by the "dip" or "variation" of the needle. Great was then the 
excitement on board the two ships; the excitement increased to 
enthusiasm when, on September 4th, after crossing the meridian of 
113 degrees west longitude. Parry announced to his men that they 
had earned the government grant of £5,000. This was offered to 
the navigator who should penetrate to the meridian of no degrees 
west, within the Arctic Circle. 

Two wrecks later, they were beset by the ice, and in the Hecla 
and Griper Bay, on Melville Island, Parry resolved to pass the 
winter. In the following year, the thaw did not set in until July, 
and it was August before Parry released his ships. Then he started 
for home, and on arriving in England, about the middle of Novem- 
ber, 1820, was received with a hearty w^elcome. 

His success led to his appointment to the command of another 
expedition in 1821. His ships, the "Hecla" and "Fury," were 
equipped w^ith every appliance that scientific ingenuity could sug- 
gest or unlimited resources provide. They sailed from the Nore 
on the 8th of Mav; thev returned to the Shetland Isles on the loth 
of October, 1823. In the interval — seven-and-twent\' months — 
Parry and Lyon (his lieutenant ) discovered the Duke of York Bay, 
numerous inlets on the northeast coast of the American mainland, 
Winter Island, the islands of Annatook and Ooght, Hecla and Fury 
Strait, Melville Peninsula, and Cockburn Island. A glance at the 
map will show the reader how far to the westward these discoveries 
carried the boundary of the known region. 



146 THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 

While encamped on Winter Island, the English were visited 
by a party of Eskimos, whose settlement they visited in turn. There 
they found a group of five snow-huts, with canoes, sledges, dogs, 
and above sixty men, women and children, as regularly and to all 
appearance as permanently fixed as if they had occupied the same 
spot the whole winter. The astonishment with which the English 
surveyed the exterior aspects of this little village was not dimin- 
ished by their admission into the interior of the huts composing it. 
Each was constructed entirely of snow and ice. After creeping 
through two low passages, having each its arched doorway, the 
strangers found themselves in a small circular apartment, of which 
the roof formed a perfect arched dome. From this central apart- 
ment three doorways, also arched, and of larger dimensions than 
the outward ones, opened into as many inhabited apartments, one 
on each side, and the third opposite the entrance. Here the women 
were seated on their beds, against the wall, each having her little 
fire-place or lamp, with all her domestic utensils, about her. The 
children quickly crept behind their mothers ; the dogs slunk into the 
corners in dismay. 

The construction of the inhabited part of the hut was similar 
to that of the outer apartment, being a dome, formed by separate 
blocks of snow laid with great regularity and no small ingenuity, 
each being cut into the shape requisite to build up a substantial arch, 
from seven to eight feet high in the center, and with no other sup- 
port than this principle of building supplies. Sufficient light was 
admitted by a circular window of ice, neatly fitted into the roof of 
each apartment. 

In 1824 Parry went north again in connection with a series 
of expeditions sent out by the British government. He was to ex- 
plore Prince Regent Inlet, and the others were to investigate the 
northern lands of the continent, with the purpose of obtaining a 
knowledge of their configuration. One of the latter was under the 
command of the afterwards famous Sir John Franklin. 



THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 147 

Parry, with his ships, the "Hecla" and *'Fury," soon reached 
Lancaster Sound, the goal of his former voyage. But here the ice 
..iiprisoned his vessels and he was forced to spend the winter at 
Port Bowen. With the spring came new misadventures. Vast 
masses of ice pressed upon the "Fury," driving her ashore and 
crushing her so that she became useless. Parry, therefore, was 
obliged to remove her men and stores to the "Plecla" and set sail 
for England, being in no condition for a further advance. 

In 1827 the indefatigable Parry started with an expedition for 
the north shore of Spitzbergen. It was characterized by his daring 
attempt to cross the pack-ice in light boats and sledges; the former 
being used in the water-ways and pools, the latter in traveling 
over the frozen plains. Nothing but the strongest enthusiasm could 
have rendered this enterprise possible. It was the first attempt of 
the kind, though later experience proved that it was the only avail- 
able one. When the explorers arrived at a gap in the ice, they 
launched their boats and embarked. On reaching the opposite side 
they landed, and by sheer force hauled up the boats; a laborious 
process, occupying much time, and making such demands on the 
men's strength that only eight miles were accomplished in five days. 
They could not travel except by night, on account of the glare of 
the snow, which threatened them with blindness. Breakfasting 
soon after sunset, they labored for some hours; then made their 
chief meal ; and towards sunrise halted, lighted their pipes, wrapped 
themselves up in their furs, and laid down to rest. 

The reader must not suppose that the ice-fields of the Polar 
regions are as smooth and level as the frozen surface of an English 
river. They are intersected by "lanes" or "leads" of water, and 
broken up by rugged hummocks of ice, which can be crossed only 
with extreme difficulty. In spite of every obstacle, Parry pressed 
on, ambitious to reach the eighty-third parallel of latitude. But at 
last he became aware of the startling circumstance that, faster than 
he moved forward, the ice was carrying him backward; in other 



.148 THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 

words, it was slowly drifting southward beneath his feet, and bear- 
ing him and his party along with it. To struggle against an ad- 
verse Nature was hopeless. In latitude 82 degrees 45 minutes he 
gave up the struggle; for, though they had traveled nearly three 
hundred miles over the rugged ice and through frozen water, they 
had advanced no more than one hundred and seventy-two miles 
from the "Hecla." Parry's trouble in this instance has been expe- 
rienced by other polar navigators since his time, the ice of the 
polar seas being in almost continual motion. But he had won the 
honor of making the highest point north yet reached, and which 
Avas not equalled until fifty years afterwards. With this success 
the gallant Parry closed his polar record. 

Parry's successful voyage was quickly followed by one com- 
manded by Captain Ross, his 1818 associate, who went north again 
in 1829. Steam navigation had now been introduced and this voy- 
age was made in a steamship, the ''Victory," the first of her kind 
to navigate the Arctic seas. The "Victory" made her way into 
Prince Regent Inlet; found the wreck of the "Fury" on the 12th 
of August; and on the 15th reached Parry's farthest point. Thence 
she accomplished three hundred miles along a previously unexplored 
coast ; and on the 7th of October went into winter quarters in what 
is now called Felix Harbor. There Ross was held fast by the ice 
for eleven months. In September, 1830, he once more got under 
way, hut, after sailing for about three miles, was again caught in 
the pack-ice, and shut up until August, 1831. On this occasion the 
"Victory" accomplished four miles, and on the 27th of September 
was imprisoned for another winter; having thus achieved exactly 
seven miles in two years. 

In 1 83 1, James Ross, who had again accompanied his uncle, 
made a sledge excursion to the westward, and crowned himself 
with glory by reaching and fixing the magnetic north pole in lati- 
tude 70 degrees 5 minutes 17 seconds north, and longitude 96 de- 
grees 46 minutes 45 seconds west. This is the point at which the 



THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 149 

magnet points vertically downward, indicating that it marks the 
extremity of the earth's magnetic axis. Why it does not coincide 
with the geographical pole no one knows, but its discovery was in 
its way as important as that of the latter in 1909. 

The long imprisonment in the ice had by this time seriously 
affected the health of the crew; and as there was no chance of re- 
leasing the ship, Ross determined to abandon her, and effect his 
escape from the polar solitudes in boats and sledges. He made first 
for the wreck of Parry's ship, the "Fury," in order to avail himself 
of what remained of her stores and materials; and after a terrible 
journey reached it, but so spent and broken down that farther pro- 
gress was impossible. Here he wintered; the whole party under- 
going the most fearful suft'erings, and several dying. With the 
first warm days of the summer of 1833 their hopes revived. They 
resumed their perilous adventure ; and on the 1 5th of August gained 
the open sea, and took to their boats. At midnight they passed 
Edwin Bay and next morning reached the farthest point to which 
they had advanced in the preceding year. Finding an open "water- 
lane," they kept to the northward, and in the evening were tossing 
off the northeastern point of the American continent. On the 17th 
great was their joy to see before them the ample expanse of Barrow 
Strait; and with a favorable wind they now steered to the south, 
passing Cape York and Admiralty Inlet, and on the 25th reaching 
the eastern shore of Navy Board Inlet. 

At four o'clock on the following morning the lookout man 
announced that a ship was in sight; but as the breeze was blowing 
freshly, she bore away under all sail, leaving them behind. For- 
tunately a dead calm succeeded, and by dint of hard rowing our 
explorers approached so near that their signals were descried, when' 
the ship heaved to and lowered a boat, which made directly towards 
them. The mate in command asked them if they were in distress, 
and offered assistance, adding that he belonged to the "Isabella," 
of Hull, once commanded by Captain Ross, but then by Captain 



150 THE ROSS AND PARRY POLAR VOYAGES 

Humphreys. He was with difficulty convinced that his former com- 
mander stood before him, — declaring that it was all a mistake, for 
he had certainly been dead two years. When finally satisfied, he 
hastened back to his ship with the glad tidings, and immediately 
her yards were manned, and three ringing cheers greeted the cap- 
tain and his party. 

As soon as possible Captain Humphreys steered for England, 
and on the 12th of October reached Stromness in Orkney. The 
intelligence of the rescue so happily accomplished quickly spread 
thence throughout the kingdom; and Captain Ross and his com- 
panions were received as men who had risen from the grave. On 
his landing at Hull he was welcomed by enthusiastic crowds, like a 
general fresh from the field of victory. He fully deserved the re 
ception thus accorded to him. 



CHAPTER XII 

• The First Franklin Expedition 

JOHN FRANKLIN, the afterwards famous Sir John Franklin, 
was born at Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, England, in 1786, one 
of a family of ten. His father intended him for the clergy, 
but as the boy grew older his disposition seemed to unfit him de- 
cidedly for this profession. He was a restless lad, with the spirit 
of the rover born in him, and manifested early in life a strong predi- 
lection for the sea. Admiral Nelson being the idol of his heart, 
while he read with avidity all the books he could obtain dealing 
with sea life and adventure. Living not far from the coast, the 
scent of salt water filled his nostrils, and the sight of the open sea 
was familiar to his eyes. 

These influences and the romantic yarns spun to him by any 
old sailor he chanced upon exerted over him the spell which was to 
mould his later life. The long stretch of moving water, wliich 
rolled between him and the sky-line, was the home of all that was 
wonderful and glorious; the ships which sailed over it were, to his 
enthusiastic mind, floating homes of mystery, adventure and beauty. 
Beyond the sea lay the lands where the coco-palms grew, where 
Indians hunted and fought, and where roamed mighty beasts of 
strange and fantastic shapes. Over the sea, also, lay the realms of 
ice and snow, of which more marvelous tales were told than of the, 
golden islands of the Southern Seas. As a result a great yearning 
came upon him. The life on shore, in peaceful, steady-going Lin- 
colnshire, was too dreary and hopeless ; nowhere could he be happy 
save on that boundless ocean, with room to breathe, and surrounded 
by all the glamour of romance. 

(151) 



1.52 THE FIRST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

The elder Franklin probably looked upon all this as a boyish 
whim, and wisely fancied that the best way to cure it would be to 
let the ardent lad have a taste of a sailor's life, thinking that the 
rough fare and hard work which it involved would cure him of his 
desire and make him welcome the quiet career proposed for him. 
He therefore arranged for him to make a voyage in a trading vessel 
to Lisbon and back. His scheme had not the desired result. The 
boy came back fuller of the desire to be a sailor than before. As a 
consequence his father obtained a place for him in the Royal Navy, 
and he had the happiness to serve under his supreme hero Nelson, 
at the battle of Copenhagen. He also served under Nelson with 
distinction in the battle of Trafalgar, and was present at the battle 
of New Orleans in 1815, where he received a slight wound. 

Franklin's first Arctic experience came in 181 8, when he had 
reached the rank of lieutenant and was second in command of an 
expedition sent out to find a way through Bering Straits. Two 
vessels formed the expedition — the "Dorothea," 370 tons, under 
Captain Buchan, and the "Trent," 250 tons, under Lieutenant 
Franklin, the latter carrying a crew of ten officers and twenty-eight 
men. Their instructions were to sail due north, from a point be- 
tween Greenland and Spitzbergen, making their way, if possible, 
through Bering Straits. The ships, which would to-day rank 
only as small coasting craft, were soon imprisoned in the ice and 
so severely crushed that as soon as the winter passed and escape 
was possible they were turned towards home. The practical results 
of the expedition were valueless, and only one circumstance in con- 
nection with it saved it from being a failure. This was the intro- 
duction of Franklin to that sphere of work which, during the re- 
mainder of his life, he was so brilliantly to adorn. 

In the following year (18 19) Franklin left Gravesend in a 
merchant ship of the Hudson Bay Company, his purpose being to 
explore the northern coast of America in co-operation with Parry, 
who, as already stated, was despatched to Lancaster Sound. The 




RESCUE OF THE GREELY PARTY, JUNE 23, 1884 

Three years after the start of his expedition Greely and his men, encamped 
near Cape Sabine, Grinnell Land, had been reduced to the direst extremities. Bj^ 
Jmie 21, 1884, death had decimated their numbers, and the commander himself 
was so weak that he discontinued his journal. The next day Frederick and Brain- 
ard obtained some water, and this, with a few square inches of soaked seal skin 
was all the food the men had for the ensuing forty-two horns. When vitaUty was 
at its lowest ebb, and hope was nearly gone, Greely heard the whistle of the "Thetis" 
blown by order of Captain Winfield S. Schley, who had been sent to search for 
Greely and the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. 







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THE FIRST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 153 

outcome of Parry's voyage we have told; that of FrankUn's journey 
may be briefly stated. At that time the whole northern coast of the 
continent had been explored at two points only, the mouth of the 
Coppermine and Mackenzie Rivers, and it was desired to gain a 
wider knowledge of this unknown region. 

With Dr. Richardson as naturalist, Midshipman Hood and 
Back, and a few men from the Orkneys, Franklin reached his start- 
ing point, York Factory, on Fludson Bay, August 13, 18 19. Thence, 
by a journey of seven hundred miles, the party reached Fort Cum- 
berland, wintering the first year on the Saskatchewan. Another 
year was passed in the wilderness of northern Canada and a second 
winter weathered through in "the barren grounds." In the follow- 
ing summer it was proposed to descend the Coppermine to the Arctic 
Sea, and a journey marked by terrible suffering and hardship began. 

Fort Enterprise, the camp occupied during their second winter, 
stood on a gentle ascent, at the base of which slept the frozen cur- 
rent of Waiter River. Here the explorers employed themselves in 
killing reindeer, and in preparing with their fat and flesh that dried, 
salted and pounded comestible called pemmican. About one hun- 
dred and eighty animals were killed. But even this number did 
not furnish an adequate supply for Franklin's party; and as the 
expected stores of tobacco, ammunition and blankets did not arrive, 
Mr. Back, with some Indian and Canadian attendants, returned to 
Chipewyan for them. Having obtained them, he once more rejoined 
the party at Fort Enterprise — after an absence of five months and 
a journey of 1,104 miles, "in snowshoes, and with no other covering 
at night in the woods than a blanket and deerskin." 

It was the middle of June, 1821, before the ice broke up in the 
Coppermine River. Then Franklin began his journey, passing down 
the stream in light birch-canoes, and occasionally pausing to hunt 
the reindeer, musk-oxen and wolves which frequented its banks. 
Having reached the mouth of the river, the twenty adventurers 
now composing the expedition launched their barks upon the Polar 



154 ^^^ FIRST FRANKLIN ENP EDITION 

Sea, which they found almost tideless, and comparatively free 
from ice. 

The extreme westward point at which, after many perilous 
experiences, Franklin arrived, was situated in latitude 68 degrees 
30 minutes, and he appropriately named it Point Turnagain. Be- 
tween this headland on the east and Cape Barrow on the west, a 
deep gulf opens inland as far south as the Arctic Circle. It was 
found to be studded with numerous islands, and indented with 
sounds affording excellent harbors, all of them supplied with small 
rivers of fresh water, abounding with salmon, trout and other fish. 
The survey of George IV' s Coronation Gulf — to adopt Franklin's 
barbarous nomenclature — ^being completed, the explorers prepared 
to return to Fort Enterprise. The overland part of the journey was 
attended with the most terrible hardships. They suffered from the 
combined afflictions of cold, hunger and fatigue. They were so 
reduced in bodily strength that it was with difficulty they could drag 
along their languid limbs; and when at last within forty miles of 
their winter asylum, they found themselves at their last ration. No 
food, no shelter and the severity of an Arctic winter pressing upon 
them! Mr. Back, with three of the stoutest Canadians, gallantly 
started forward to seek assistance ; and were followed in a few days 
by Franklin and seven of the party — leaving the weakest, under the 
care of Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, to proceed at leisure. Four 
of Franklin's companions, however, soon gave up the attempt from 
absolute physical incapacity. One of these — Michel, an Iroquois — 
returned to Dr. Richardson; the others were never again heard of. 
Franklin pushed forward, living on berries and a lichen called tripe- 
de-roche, and reached the hut; but it was without an inhabitant, 
'without stores and blocked up by snow. Here he and his three 
companions lingered for seventeen days, with no other food than 
the bones and skin of the deer which had been killed the preceding 
winter, boiled down into a kind of soup. On October 29th Dr. 
Richardson aad John Hepburn, one of the seamen, made their 
appearance. 



THE FIRST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 155 

Dr. Richardson had a tragic tale to unfold. He stated that 
for the first two days after Franklin's departure his party had noth- 
ing to eat. On the third day Michel arrived with a hare and part- 
ridge, which afforded each a small morsel. The fourth day they 
fasted. On the nth Michel offered them some flesh, which he 
declared to be part of a wolf; but they afterwards had good reason 
to suspect it was the flesh of one of the unfortunate men who had 
left Franklin to return to Richardson. They noticed that Michel 
daily grew more furtive and insolent, and were convinced that he 
had a supply of meat for his own use. On the 20th, while Hepburn 
was felling wood, he heard the report of a gun, and, turning quickly 
round, saw Michel dart into the tent. Mr. Hood was found dead; 
a ball had penetrated the back of his skull : there could not be the 
shadow of a doubt that Michel had fired it. He now grew more 
suspicious and impatient of control than ever; and as he was 
stronger than any other of the party, and well-armed, they arrived 
at the conviction that their safety depended upon his death. "I 
determined," said Dr. Richardson, "as I was thoroughly convinced 
of the necessity of such a dreadful act, to take the whole responsi- 
bility upon myself; and imm.ediately upon Michel's coming up I 
put an end to his life by shooting him through the head." 

They occupied six days in traveling twenty-four miles, exist- 
ing on lichens and pieces of Mr. Hood's skin cloak. On the even- 
ing of the 29th they came in sight of the fort, and at first felt inex- 
pressible pleasure on seeing the smoke issue from the chimney. But 
the absence of any footprints in the snow filled their hearts with 
sad forebodings, which were fully realized when they entered the 
hut and saw the wretchedness that reigned there. 

The exploring party was now reduced to four — Franklin,' 
Richardson, Hepburn and an Indian ; and that these could long sur- 
vive seemed impossible, from their absolute weakness and lack of 
food. Happily, on the 7th of November three Indians arrived, 
whom Mr. Back had despatched from Chipewyan with supplies; 



156 THE FIRST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

and they tended the sufferers carefully until all were strong enough 
to return to the English settlement. And in this way was accom- 
plished a journey of 5,500 miles; mostly over a bleak and barren 
country and under an inclement sky, with terrible cost of physical 
and mental suffering and with much loss of life, but with results 
which greatly enlarged the boundaries of geographical knowledge. 

In a second land expedition, made in conjunction with Parry's 
voyage of 1824, Franklin discarded the Mackenzie and traced the 
coast line through 37, degrees of longitude to near the one hundred 
and fiftieth meridian. The English government, appreciating the 
services of one who, through great danger and suffering, had car- 
ried these expeditions over nine thousand miles, and added to the 
charts twelve hundred miles of the northern coast line, knighted 
him in 1829. He also received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from 
the University of Oxford, was awarded the great gold medal from 
the French Geographical Society, and was elected a member of 
the Academy of Sciences, Paris. 

As governor of Tasmania, 1836-43, he accomplished much for 
the advancement of the colony, — among other benefits founding the 
Royal Society of Tasmania at Hobart Town, the meetings of which 
were held in the Government-house, and the papers printed at his 
expense. By a singular coincidence, among the Antarctic expedi- 
tions visiting the colony he had occasion to welcome the "Erebus" 
and "Terror," the ships which he was afterwards to command In 
the final and fatal expedition of his life. 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Terrible Fate of the Sir John Franklin 

Expedition 

THE records of polar expeditions are full of tales of disaster, 
suffering and death, at times sudden, at times drawn out 
through the long and slow agony of starvation. While the 
later explorers, such as Nansen, Peary, Cook and others experi- 
enced the pangs of hunger in only a minor degree, some of those of 
earlier date passed through long-drawn sufferings of the most ter- 
rible description. We may instance the cases of the Greely and 
DeLong expeditions, and above all that of Sir John Franklin, the 
mystery surrounding which enveloped it in a romantic interest, 
which was greatly added to by the results of the many relief expedi- 
tions sent out and the years that passed before the fearful fate of the 
unfortunates became known. In the romance of polar research — 
the romance of terror — the tale of Sir John Franklin's final expe- 
dition stands first, and a detailed account of it comes here in order. 

On Franklin's return to England from his governorship of 
Van Diemen's Land, in 1844, he found the Admiralty exercised on 
the subject of a new Arctic expedition, proposed by the Royal 
Society at the instance of Sir John Barrow. He claimed the com- 
mand, and was appointed. On this occasion the first lord of the 
admiralty said to Sir Edward Parry, of former Arctic fame, "1 
see that Franklin is sixty years of age; ought we to permit him 
to go out?" to which Parry replied, "He is the ablest man T know, 
and if you do not send him he will certainly die of despair." 

Franklin himself said, when asked, "Can you not repose on the 

(157) 



158 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

laurels won in such good service for your country," ''My lord, I 
am but fifty-nine." "He appeared," says La Roquette, "as jealous 
of a few months of his age, when it was a question of exposure to 
great danger, or of executing a work of difficulty or suffering, as a 
woman would be of being thought older than the parish register 
showed." 

The prestige of Arctic service, and of his brilliant experience 
in that field, brought around him a crowd of volunteers for the new 
expedition, which set out under the best auspices and with ardent 
hopes of a brilliant and successful voyage. Franklin's experience 
had previously been along the northern coast line of the American 
continent. Now he proposed to traverse the islanded seas border- 
ing that coast, with the purpose of discovering that famed North- 
west Passage which so many navigators of the past centuries had 
sought in vain. Daring mariners had fought their way far through 
the channels and passages of that region, and there was reason to 
hope that Franklin, with his superior equipment, and his use of the 
charts made by former voyagers from Frobisher down, would suc- 
ceed where so many had failed. 

The ships chosen were the 370-ton screw steamer "Erebus" 
and the 340-ton "Terror," vessels which had already made a record 
in the Antarctic region and whose good fortune, it was trusted, 
would follow them into the Arctic. These were the vessels which 
had borne Sir James Ross and his party in his memorable Antarctic 
exploration of 1839-43, when he reached the seventy-eighth degree 
of south latitude and discovered an ice-bound region of continental 
extent, which he named Victoria Land and traced its coast for 
seven hundred miles. These vessels, the "Erebus" under Sir John 
Franklin and the "Terror" under Captain Crozier, both carefully 
refitted and provisioned for three years, sailed from the Thames in 
the sping of 1845. 

The officers and men were one hundred and thirty-four in 
number, a transport ship accompanied the expedition to carry stores 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 159 

to Disco, Greenland. The "Erebus" and "Terror" were fitted with 
every appliance then considered essential to success, though much 
of the provisions taken proved later to be of a quality detrimental 
to the success of the expedition. Such was the party and the equip- 
ment which started out with the warmest anticipations of a glorious 
and fortunate voyage, only to plunge into the depths of that terrible 
sea of ice from which no man of the party was ever to return. 

On the 8th of June they left the Orkneys, steering for the 
extreme point of Greenland known as Cape Farewell; where, 
indeed, the adventurer does, as it were, bid farewell to the security 
and liberty of the civilized world. A month later they lay at anchor 
in the middle of a group of rocky islets on the east side of Baffin 
Bay. Yet another fortnight, and we may see them with the mind's 
eye, as some whalers saw them, gallantly struggling with the ice 
which impeded their progress across the Bay of Baffin to Lancaster 
Sound. Seven officers manned a boat and dragged her across the 
ice to visit the whalers. They went on board the "Prince of Wales" 
of Hull. "All well," they reported, and expressed the blithest, 
cheeriest confidence in the success of their enterprise. After a 
hearty hand-grasp, they said good-bye and returned to their ships. 
On the same evening (July 26th) the ice broke up, the westward 
route lay open, and the Arctic expedition plowed the waves for 
Lancaster Sound. Thereafter a cloud descended upon it; it passed 
into the heart of the grim solitudes of the Polar World, and men 
heard of it no more. When two years had elapsed without any 
tidings of the expedition reaching England, the public mind grew 
seriously alarmed. Expectation deepened into anxiety; anxiety 
darkened into fear. When the winter of 1848 passed away, and 
still no tidings came, it was felt that further inaction would be 
intolerable. Hitherto the great object had been the discovery of 
the Northwest Passage ; now the thoughts of men were all directed 
to a search after Franklin and his companions. Strangely enough, 
Providence had so ordered it that in the search after these "martyrs 
of Science" the former object was attained. 



i6o FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

An expedition in search of the missing heroes was despatched 
under Sir James Ross; and another mider Sir John Richardson: 
both added to the stores of geographical knowledge, but nothing 
more. These had worked from the eastward; Captains Moore and 
Kellett worked from the westward, entering Bering Strait, and 
actually reaching, by their boats, the mouth of Mackenzie River. 
In the spring of 1849, the British Government offered a reward of 
£20,000 to any private explorers, of any nation, who should discover 
and succor the wanderers; and Lady Franklin, out of her own 
resources, organized several relieving parties. So it happened that, 
in 1850, no fewer than twelve vessels, led by Ross, Rae, McClure, 
Osborne, CoUinson, Penny, Austin, Ommaney, Forsyth and De 
Haven, besides boat and sledge companies, plunged deep into the 
far northern wilderness to trace the footprints of the lost. 

The Admiralty orders to Franklin had been, to pass through 
Lancaster Sound into Barrow Strait; thence to Cape Walker; and 
from Cape Walker, by such course as he might find convenient, to 
Bering Strait. The general opinion was, that he had got to the 
west of Melville Island, and then been caught by the ice among the 
numerous islands lying in that part of the Arctic Sea. And it was 
supposed that he would be engaged in an effort to cross the ice, and 
reach either one of the Hudson Bay settlements, or some whaling- 
station. 

In August of the year named the first traces of the missing 
party were found. These consisted of scraps of rope and canvas, a 
long-handled rake, the ground plan of a tent, etc., found by Captain 
Penny on Beechey Island. In conjunction with Lieutenant De 
Haven, of the American Grinnell expedition, he now undertook a 
careful search in the vicinity of Wellington Channel, with the result 
that they found a carefully built pyramidal cairn. It was con- 
structed of meat-cans which were filled with gravel and sand and 
arranged to taper upwards from the base to the summit, where was 
fixed the remnant of a broken boarding-pike. But no record could 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION i6i 

be found; nothing to connect it with Sir John FrankHn. Presently, 
as they looked along the northern slope of the island, other strange 
objects caught their eye. Another rush of eager, breathless beings, 
and all stood in silence before three graves. Some of them were 
unable to refrain from tears as they muttered the words inscribed 
upon the rude tablets, "Erebus and Terror.'' 

During the succeeding years various other expeditions were 
sent out, but nothing of importance was found until the expedition 
of Captain McClintock of 1857-59. McClintock had served under 
Sir James Ross in his Franklin search expedition of 1848-49, and 
in later attempts, in which he performed remarkable feats in sledge 
traveling. In 1857 he was chosen to command the expedition sent 
out by Lady Franklin for a final effort to obtain tidings of the lost 
navigator. In the winter of 1858-59 he and his officers made 
extensive sledge journeys, and in May, 1859, found at Point Vic- 
tory, on King William's Island, a record of Franklin's death and 
the remains of the last survivor of his party. For his success he 
was knighted and received various honors and rewards. 

The finding of this paper and the expedition itself were the 
result of the last of Lady Franklin's various efforts to discover the 
fate of her husband. To this object she had dedicated all her avail- 
able means, and, aided by sympathizing friends, had purchased and 
fitted out the "Fox," in which McClintock sailed. The paper was 
found by Lieutenant Hobson, enclosed in a tin cylinder, in a cairn 
twelve miles from Cape Herschel, and, with a large number of relics 
obtained at this and other points, it was deposited in the Museum 
of the United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard. The discovery 
of this paper first definitely made known the fate of the party, — an 
issue generally apprehended in England from the time of Rae's 
discoveries in 1854, for the relics which in that year he had brought 
from the Eskimos were articles of personal property of the officers, 
including Sir John Franklin's own star of the Order of Merit. 

We may briefly refer to two other search expeditions headed 



162 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

by Americans. One of these was headed by Captain C. F. Hall, 
who reached King William's Land in 1866 and obtained from the 
Eskimos of that region a variety of interesting relics of the Franklin 
party. He also learned from them that their people had been, at 
one time, alongside of "the ships," and had seen the great Eshe- 
mutta (Franklin). "This Eshemutta was an old man with broad 
shoulders, gray hair, full face, and bald head. He was always 
wearing something over his eyes," — "spectacles," as they described 
them. "He was quite lame and sick when they last saw him. He 
was always very kind, wanted them to eat constantly, very cheerful 
and laughing ; everybody liked him, Innuits and all on the ship ; they 
on the ship would always do what he said. The ship was crushed 
by the ice. While it was sinking, the men worked for their lives, 
but before they could get much out from the vessel she sank. For 
this reason Aglook (Captain Crozier) died of starvation, for he 
could not get provisions to carry with him on his land journey." 

Hall returned to King William's Land in 1869, ^^^ 0^ ^^^^ occa- 
sion also obtained a considerable number of relics of the Franklin 
party from the natives, saying that such relics were "possessed by 
natives all over the Arctic regions from Powel's Bay to Mackenzie 
River." 

The final search expedition was made by Lieutenant Frederick 
Schwatka, of the American Army, who obtained leave of absence in 
1878 to command a Franklin search expedition in the Arctic Ocean. 
King William's Land was reached and searched, the principal result 
being the discovery and burial of the skeletons of various members 
of the Franklin party. Many relics were found, but the papers of 
which the Eskimos had spoken, and which were believed to contain 
the more important records of the party, had disappeared. Eskimos 
had taken them from the cairn in Avhich they were deposited and, 
being deemed of no value, had suffered them to be destroyed. 

One important find made by Schwatka was the remains of a 
skeleton near which was found a silver medal bearing the words, 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 163 

"Awarded to John Irving, Midsummer, 1830. Second Mathe- 
matical Prize." This identified the remains as being those of Lieu- 
tenant Irving, of the "Terror." As this was the only case of possible 
identification, the remains were carefully gathered and conveyed to 
New York, whence they were forwarded to Edinburgh, Irving's 
native town. Here they were given a public funeral on January j 
7, 1881. 

Coming now to what we know of the voyage of the last party 
and what we can reasonably conjecture by piecing out the informa- 
tion obtained and weaving it into a consecutive narrative, we may 
present the following account as probably representing the general 
facts : 

When the "Erebus" and "Terror" parted company, on July 4, 
1845, with the despatch-boat that had accompanied them, they 
shaped their course through Baffin's Bay towards Lancaster Sound. 
Continuing their way, they passed Cape Warrender and ultimately 
reached Beechey Island at the entrance of the then tmexplored 
waters of Wellington Channel. They passed through the channel, 
taking such observations as were necessary as they went, until they 
had progressed one hundred and fifty miles. Further advance being 
stopped by the ice, they passed into another unexplored channel 
between Cornwallis Island and Bathurst Island which led them 
into Barrow's Strait, nearly one hundred miles west of the entrance 
to Wellington Channel. 

The ice was now forming thickly around them, and attention 
was directed to discovering a comfortable haven where they could 
remain while the winter ice closed in around them. A suitable 
harbor was found on the northeasterly side of Beechey Island and 
the ships were made snug. All the spars that could be sent down 
were lowered on to the decks, and the rigging and sails stowed away 
below before the ice surrounded them, so that when the floes began 
to pack and lifted the hulls of the vessels, there should be no "top- 
hamper" to list them over. On the frozen shore huts were built for 



i64 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

the accommodation of shore parties, and, as the ice spread around 
and the snow fell, the men found exercise and amusement in heaping 
it up against the sides of the vessels as an extra protection against 
the cold, a thick mass of frozen snow. But where there were fires 
always going to maintain the temperature of the cabins, the danger 
of an outbreak of fire had to be zealously guarded against. With all 
the ship's pumps rendered useless by the frost, and the water frozen 
solid all around, a conflagration on board a vessel in the Arctic seas 
is one of the grimmest of terrors. The safeguard is the mainte- 
nance, in the ice near the vessel's side, of a "fire hole," that is, a 
small space kept open by constant attention down to the level of 
unfrozen water. 

During the long winter months there was plenty of time to 
estimate the progress they had made, and there must have been con- 
siderable satisfaction on all sides at what they had accomplished. 
They had circumnavigated Cornwallis Island and had reached to 
within 250 miles of the western end of the passage. 

New Year's Day was saddened by the death of one of their 
comrades, and the silent ice-fields witnessed another impressive 
sight when the crews of both vessels slowly marched ashore to the 
grave dug in the frozen soil of Beechey Island. The body, wrapped 
in a Union Jack, was borne by the deceased man's messmates, the 
members of his watch headed by their officers following, and after 
them the remainder of the officers and crew. The bells of each ship 
tolled as the cortege passed over the ice, the crunching of the crisp 
snow under foot being the only other sound till the grave was 
reached. There the solemn and impressive service of a sailor's 
funeral was said, the mingled voices as they repeated the responses 
passing as a great hum through the still, cold air. A momentary 
silence followed as the flag-swathed figure was lowered into the 
grave, and then a quick rattle of firearms as the last salute was paid 
echoed far and wide among the icebergs. 

Twice more was that scene repeated before the ships cleared 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 165 

from the ice, and one of the first signs discovered by the searchers 
after Frankhn were the three headstones raised on that lonely isle 
to the memory of W. Braine, John Hartwell, and John Torrington, 
who died while the ships were wintering in the cold season of 

1845-6. 

By July the ice had broken up and the voyage was resumed and 
passed without any exceptional incident, up to the middle of Sep- 
tember, 1846, when they were again caught by the ice, but 150 miles 
nearer their destination than the year before. Only a hundred 
miles more to be sailed over and they would be conquerors — ^but 
that hundred miles was too firmly blocked with ice-floes for them 
ever to sail over. 

The winter of 1846-7 was passed off the most extreme northerly 
point of King William's Land. The ice was particularly heavy, and 
hemmed the vessels in completely, the surface being too rugged and 
uneven to permit of traveling in the immediate vicinity even of 
hunting parties. This was the more unfortunate because the pro- 
visions were growing scant, and supplies brought in by hunters 
would have been of great assistance. At the time of starting, the 
vessels had been provisioned for three years. Two had now passed, 
so that only a twelvemonth's stock of food remained in the holds. 
It might take them all the next summer to work through the remain- 
ing hundred miles of the passage, and that would leave them another 
winter to face, unless they should find open water when they reached 
the end. But, on the other hand, they might not be able to get 
through in the time, or the passage might not be navigable. Either 
possibility was full of very grave anxiety for those in command, for 
it was a terrible prospect of being left, with one hundred and thirty 
men to feed, in the midst of the frozen sea, "a hundred miles from 
everywhere." 

The anxiety felt was shown by the despatch, as early as May, 
or two months before the first flush of summer was due, of a 
specially selected party of quick travelers to push forward over the 



1 66. FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

ice and spy out the prospects ahead. Lieutenant Graham Gore, of 
the "Erebus," commanded the party, which consisted of Charles des 
Voeux, ship's mate, and six seamen. They carried only enough 
stores to last them on their journey, and each one had to contribute 
his share to the labor of hauling the hand-sledges over the jagged 
ridges of broken ice. Skirting along the coast of King William's 
Land, they arrived at a point from the top of which they were able 
to discern the mainland coast trending away to the horizon, with a 
sea of ice in front. 

To commemorate the fact the little party built a cairn upon the 
summit of the point, which they named Point Victory, and enclosed 
in a tin canister they deposited, under the cairn, a record of their 
trip and its result. Twelve years later this record was found, and 
by it the honor due to Franklin for the discovery of the passage was 
confirmed. But the manner of its finding must be told later on. 

The record left by them stated that all the crews were then well 
and Sir John Franklin in command. They returned to find that he 
was sick unto death, their gallant leader dying shortly after, on 
June II, 1847. Death served him well in one particular, it saved 
him from the terrible experience of those he left behind. 

Captain Crozier, of the "Terror," assumed • command, but it 
was as the leader of an almost hopeless enterprise. The ice did not 
break up, as was hoped, and the two vessels, with their inadequate 
supplies, were held fast for another winter, — the winter of 1847-8, 
— during which no fewer than nine officers and fifteen men died. 
On the 22d of April, the survivors came to the resolution of aban- 
doning the doomed ships ; and, one hundred and five In number, and 
led by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames, they started for Great Fish 
River. The great quantity of articles left at the point of departure 
is a significant evidence of their enfeebled condition. We can only 
conjecture the events of their journey. From this spot to a point 
about half-way between Point Victory and Point Herschel nothing 
important concerning them has been discovered; and the skeletons 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 167 

and relics found were all deeply embedded in snow. At the half- 
way point just spoken of, however, Lieutenant Hobson, in his 
search, caught sight of a piece of wood projecting from the snow; 
and on digging round it exhumed a boat, standing on a very heavy 
sledge. Within it were two skeletons: one, lying in the bottom of 
the stern-sheets, and covered with a quantity of clothing; the other, 
half-erect in the bows, as if the poor fellow had crept there to look 
out, and in that position had yielded to the slumber which knows no 
waking. A couple of guns, loaded and ready cocked, stood close at 
hand, apparently prepared for use against wild animals. Around 
this boat was found another accumulation of cast-off articles; and 
McClintock conjectured that the party who had dragged the sledge 
thus far were returning to the ships, having discovered themselves 
unequal to the terrors of the journey they had undertaken. This 
is possible ; but we can hardly doubt that the stronger portion of the 
crews pushed forward with another boat, and that some reached 
Montreal Island and ascended Great Fish River. The record left 
by them in the cairn which Lieutenant Gore had erected tells their 
story to this point, ending with, "Start to-morrow, April 26th, for 
Back's Fish River." 

In 1854, Dr. Rae, in his overland expedition, fell in with some 
Eskimos who spoke of having seen forty men dragging a boat near 
the Fish River, under the leadership of a tall, stout, middle-aged 
man; a description fairly agreeing with the appearance of Captain 
Fitzjames. Sherard Osborn is of opinion, therefore, that the 
strongest of the survivors, under Fitzjames, pushed on to perish in 
the dreary wildernesses of the Hudson Bay territory (for relics have 
been found on the Fish River, fifty miles above Montreal Island) ; 
and that the weak, if ever they reached the ships again, did so only 
in time to see them wrecked by the breaking up of the ice in the 
autumn of 1848. We know from the Eskimos that one ship sank; 
and that the other, on board of which was one dead person, "a tall, 
large-boned man," was driven ashore. These wrecks, however. 



1 68 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

could not have occurred on the coast between Capes Victory and 
Herschel; for in that case the natives would assuredly have appro- 
priated the relics discovered by McClintock and Hobson. We come, 
therefore, to McClintock's conclusion, that the wrecked ship went 
ashore somewhere within the region frequented by the Fish River 
Eskimos; and that in the years 1857-58 the ice had probably swept 
her away again, and finally destroyed her. 

Let the reader remember, as a commentary on the vanity of 
human wishes, that the point at which the ''Erebus" and "Terror" 
were caught in the ice in 1846, was but ninety miles from the point 
reached by Dease and Simpson in their boats in 1838-39. So that 
had Franklin and his followers but accomplished those ninety miles 
of open water, they would have won the prize for which they had 
dared and endured so much, and have returned home to enjoy the 
well-earned applause of their countrymen. But Providence had 
decreed otherwise. "They were to discover," says the historian of 
their labors, "the great highway between the Pacific and Atlantic. 
It was given them to win for their country a discovery for which 
she had risked her sons and lavishly spent her wealth through many 
centuries; but they were to die in accomplishing their last great 
earthly task; and, still more strange, but for the energy and devo- 
tion of the wife of their chief and leader, it would in all probability 
never have been known that they were indeed the first discoverers 
of the Northwest Passage." 

We have not completed our story. Closely connected with it is 
another record of adventure, that of the solution of the problem of 
the Northwest Passage by the actual fact of passing through it. 
As this was accomplished by one of the searchers for the Franklin 
relics, the relation of it properly fits in with the story of the search. 
The feat was performed by Captain Robert McClure, partly on 
shipboard and partly by sledging, in 1853. His voyage was one of 
leading importance, in view of its result, and merits description 
here. 



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FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 169 

The "Investigator," McClure's ship, had sailed in 1850 with 
several others for the Bering Strait entrance to the Polar Sea. 
Here they parted company to work over different areas, the "Inves- 
tigator" sailing along the waters bathing the northern coast of the 
continent. She was soon in front of the ice pack, which stretched 
with an unbroken form from east to west, all that could be seen in 
the distance being a great herd of walrus huddled together on the 
ice like a flock of sheep. Open water was found, however, between 
the ice and the land, and the ship was pushed into this lead, Mc- 
Clure keeping well in towards the shore on the lookout for natives. 
At Cape Bathurst, near the Mackenzie River, a region which 
Franklin had explored in his land trip of many years before, a large 
tribe was observed, and at once a boat party put off from the ship. 

As they approached the shore, thirty tents and nine winter- 
houses were seen. Immediately the boats were run ashore a tremen- 
dous stir was caused in the village, the men running to and fro and 
then charging down a steep slope to where the boats were aground 
on the beach. As they drew near it was seen that each man carried 
a drawn knife in his hand, as well as bows and arrows, and their 
warlike intentions were still more clearly shown when the fitted 
arrows to the bows and began to aim at the white men. The inter- 
preter Miertsching, clad in native costume, advanced from the ex- 
plorers towards the angry Eskimo, holding his hands above his 
head in the position which expresses peace amongst these primitive 
people. 

When told that no harm would be done them they were per- 
suaded to lay aside their bows and arrows, but would not relinquish 
their knives until the whites had put down their rifle's. Amity was 
reached when one of the rifles was given to the chief to carry, the 
Eskimos now offering their knives to the safe keeping of the visitors. 
It was a hunting village that had been reached, containing more 
than three hundred meuy women, and children. They told the 
whites that the ice beyond the open passage was the realm of the 



lyo FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

white bear, which roamed there in numbers and of which they were 
in great fear, telHng several tales of its ferocity. 

Upon the interpreter explaining how the white men's rifles 
could kill the bears, the chief at once invited him to come and live 
with them, offering as inducements his own daughter, a pleasant- 
looking girl of about fifteen, a fully furnished tent, and all the other 
necessary possessions of a well-to-do Eskimo. Failing in that, they 
invited the explorers to a feast of roast whale and venison, salmon, 
blubber, and other delicacies; but instead of taking these, the ex- 
plorers presented them with a number of gifts, and left them on the 
best of terms. 

A few days later another small band was encountered farther 
along the coast, one of whom was wearing a brass button in his ear. 
The button was off a sailor's jacket, and upon being asked how he 
obtained it, the man replied it had been taken from a white man who 
had been killed by the tribe. He was asked for further particulars, 
in case the unfortunate might turn out to be one of Franklin's men. 
The Eskimo replied that it might have been done a year ago or when 
he was a child, but the huts the white men had built were still 
standing. The explorers at once persuaded him to take them to the 
spot, but on arrival they found the huts so weather-worn and over- 
grown with moss that more than a generation must have passed 
since they were built. 

Winter was now setting in, and as there was no suitable harbor 
at hand. Captain McClure determined to pass the season amongst 
the ice-floes. His decision was largely due to the fact that as the 
ice was forming around them, a great mass of old ice, over six miles 
in length and drifting at the rate of two miles an hour, came upon 
them. Its enormous weight crushed everything out of its way, and 
the ship could only manoeuvre sufficiently to graze it with her star- 
board bow. Fortunately on the other side of her there was only 
freshly formed and comparatively thin ice, otherwise she would 
have been hopelessly crushed at once. As it was, the gradual drift- 
ing past of the mass was disconcerting, and it was decided to make 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 171 

fast to it. A great mass which they ascertained extended down- 
wards for forty-eight feet below the surface of the sea was selected, 
and with heavy cables the "Investigator" was made secure to it. 
Throughout the winter she remained moored to it, though not 
without more than one experience of danger. 

These experiences were repeated at the breaking of the ice on 
the coming of spring, the "Investigator" drifting towards a shoal 
upon which a huge mass of ice was stranded. For a time the ship 
was in imminent danger of being crushed, a peak of ice thirty feet 
high hanging perpendicularly above her and threatening each 
moment to fall. Fortunately the suspense was relieved by a mass 
falling from the great bulk in another direction, while the pressure 
on the floe carried it away from the ship. Later on the "Investiga- 
tor" was in peril of being caught between the grounded mass and 
the moving floe, in which case she would inevitably have been 
crushed. A blast of powder, which cracked the ice, relieved the 
strain, and the vessel escaped without serious injury, though several 
sheets of her copper sheathing were stripped off and rolled up like 
scraps of paper. Progress, however, was slow, the only open water 
being near the land, beyond which the pack ice was heavy and close. 

They rounded Cape Lambton on Banks' Land, a promontory 
which they found rose a thousand feet precipitously. The land 
beyond gradually lost the bold character of the rugged cape, the 
island presenting a view of hills in the interior which gradually 
sloped to the shore, having fine valleys and extensive plains, over 
and through which several small and one considerable sized stream 
flowed. A great deal of drift-wood lay along the beacH, and the 
land was covered with verdure upon which large flocks of geese 
■^vere feeding, while ducks were flying in great numbers. Two small 
islands were passed off the coast, one of which afforded an example 
of the force exerted by a drifting Polar Sea ice-floe. The island rose 
about forty feet above the surface of the sea, and broken masses of 
ice, which had formed a floe, had been driven entirely over it. 



172 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN ENPEDITION 

The pack still presented an impassable barrier to their course 
away from the land, and as the season was getting late they decided 
that they would make winter quarters. A suitable bay was found 
on the north of the island, and there they spent, not one, but two 
winters, for the ice remained so thick during the ensuing short 
summer that it was impossible to move. In the summer, however, 
if they could not get to sea, they could travel on to the land, and as 
game was plentiful they were able to keep themselves well supplied 
with fresh meat. But when winter again came upon them with its 
cold darkness, the game was scarcer, and, what was worse, the 
ship's stores were decreasing, so that it became necessary to reduce 
the rations that the stores might be made to last as long as possible, 
since another year might need to be passed in the ice. 

The ship was little the worse for the straining she had received, 
but some of the men were showing signs of sickness, and Captain 
McClure decided to send out a party of the more robust to travel 
overland to the nearest station of the Hudson Bay Company, and 
thence press on to England with a request for a relief expedition. 
Everything was ready for this journey when, on April loth, an 
incident happened which rendered it unnecessary. 

On that day the captain and first lieutenant were walking on 
the ice near the ship discussing the serious state of affairs and 
depressed by the fact that one of the men had just died from 
scurvy, while others were in a bad state of health. As they walked 
onward they saw a man coming towards them over the ice. He was 
hastening so fast that they thought he must be flying from a bear, 
and they went forward to meet him. But as they approached him, 
they saw that he was not one of their own ship^s company, for he 
was of a different build to any of their men, in addition to which his 
face showed black from between his furs, and he was waving his 
arms wildly. They stopped, doubtful what to make of him, and he 
rushed up, still gesticulating and articulating wildly. 

"Who are you, and where do you come from?" McClure ex- 
claimed. 



FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION i73 

"Lieutenant Pirn, of the 'Resolute,' Captain Kellett," the 
strange figure managed to reply, as he seized McClure's hands and 
shook them frantically. 

The story told by Pim was the following: In the winter of 
1851-52 McClure had made a journey across the ice to Melville 
Island and left a record at Parry's winter harbor. To this island 
the "Resolute," entering by way of Baffin Bay, came in the following 
year and found McClure's record, learning from it where the "In- 
vestigator" might be found. Accordingly, Lieutenant Pim was sent 
across the straits with a sledge party on March loth. For a month 
they had been wandering in search, and he happened to be on ahead 
of his men when he caught sight of the "Investigator" in the dis- 
tance. He had pushed on to his expected goal, when he saw and 
recognized Captain McClure. His excitement overmastered him 
and he could only halloo and shout and jump about in his glee. 

The noise of his shouts reached the vessel, where the crew, 
hearing a strange voice, came tumbling up from below to see who 
it was that had arrived. The sight of the "Resolute" sledge-party, 
who soon afterwards came up, completed their surprise and gratifi- 
cation, for it meant that close at hand was all the help they needed 
to insure their liberation. The whole ship's company journeyed 
across to where the "Resolute" lay, and, in the interchange of yarns 
and the assurance of abundance of food and rest till the ice broke 
up, they found the requisite stimulus to overcome all the evil efifects 
of their past trials and privations. 

The remainder of Captain McClure's adventure may be briefly 
'told. The "Investigator" was abandoned, as in hopeless straits, and 
her captain and crew wintered on the "Resolute," which was obliged 
to remain in the pack until the following year. In the spring of 
1S54 a remarkable journey was made. Captain Collinson, of the 
"Enterprise," who had parted with McClure at Bering Strait four 
years earlier, remained like him in the ice, having come within a few 
miles of Point Victory, where the record of the Franklin party was 
afterwards found. 



174 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 

Several expeditions were sent out from the "Resolute" in the 
spring, one of which, under Mecham, made a most remarkable 
journey, in the hope of discovering the locality of Captain Collinson. 
In sixty-one and a half days of travel he journeyed 1,336 miles, his 
average speed on his return trip being 23^ miles a day, a record 
of interest in view of the recent controversy concerning the possible 
speed of Arctic travel. During that year Collinson got out of the 
ice and brought the "Enterprise'' back to England. 

McClure and his men returned on the "Resolute" by way of 
Baffin Bay. They had thus not only found, but traversed, the 
Northwest Passage, though not in the same ship, and partly by 
traveling over the ice. The carrying of a ship through this passage 
was reserved for Amundsen, fifty years later. For his great feat 
McClure received the honor of knighthood, while Parliament voted 
him and his officers and men a reward of f 10,000. He had suc- 
ceeded in a quest which began v^^ith Frobisher, nearly three cen- 
turies before. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Dr. Kane's Famous Arctic Voyage 

THE search for the Sir John Franklin expedition was not con- 
fined to Englishmen. Americans shared strongly in the 
sympathy that in time grew world-wide, and a wealthy ship- 
owner of New York, Henry Grinnell, fitted out a series of expedi- 
tions with the object of joining in the search. One of these, that of 
Dr. Kane, >von a place among the most famous of polar expeditions. 
The first American voyage for Arctic research, financed by Grinnell, 
was under the command of Lieutenant Edwin J. De Haven, a Phila- 
delphian who had served for years in the navy and had taken part 
in the celebrated Wilkes expedition to the Antarctic seas. Picked 
out by Grinnell as the best man he could find for the purpose, he 
took with him a physician, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, who was after- 
wards to achieve distinction as a polar explorer for himself. 

De Haven left New York May 24, 1850, with two small sailing 
vessels, the "Advance," of 140 tons, and the "Rescue," of but 90. 
The tiny submarine "Plunger" has a displacement of 168 tons, and 
the torpedo-boats of our navy average 200, so t(hat it can be 
imagined with what frail cockleshells De Haven ventured into the 
frozen North. As might have been expected, the ice-pack proved 
an insurmountable obstacle to his little boats. They got no further 
than the mouth of Wellington Channel, whence they drifted through 
Lancaster Sound and down the western shore of Baffin's Bay, a 
distance of more than a thousand miles. They did not shake them- 
selves free from the enclogging ice until the i6th of June, 185 1, 
when De Haven returned to New York. 

(175) 



176 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

The second Grinnell expedition, which left New York two 
years later, was under the command of Dr. Kane, also a native of 
Philadelphia and a graduate of the Medical School of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in the class of 1842. 

The Kane expedition sailed from New York on May 30, 1853, 
in Mr. Grinnell's brig, the "Advance," one of those used by De 
Haven, the total party consisting of eighteen officers and men. Dr. 
Hayes, of later Arctic fame, was the surgeon, August Sonntag the 
astronomer, and Henry Brooks the first officer. On the ist of July 
they reached Fiskernses, a Danish settlement on the west coast of 
Greenland, to take on board fifty dogs and an Eskimo driver. By 
the end of July the little brig was among the floes in Melville Bay, 
and with the wind blowing half a gale the intrepid voyager made 
his vessel fast to a huge iceberg. As with its strange convoy the 
ship approached Cape York, the great ice mountain began to crack 
and shower down small fragments on the deck, the mariners cast 
ofif, and no sooner had they done so than the whole face of the berg 
gave way and a mighty crystal avalanche slid into the sea where the 
vessel had been moored only a short time before. 

On the 1st of August the ship was moored to another large 
berg, "a moving breakwater of gigantic proportions,'" and under 
its floating lead they moved steadily to the north. Finally, the 
danger from drifting ice being passed, they got under way, sailing 
to the northwest through a fairly open channel, ever a sea lit with 
the glory of the midnight sun, the ice-fields glitte.ing with jeweled 
radiance and presenting the hues of blazing carbuncles, rubies, and 
molten gold. 

As they faced northward, fresh meat for he dogs became 
almost impossible to obtain. The famished animals eagerly de- 
voured two birds' nests with the contents, and a dead whale provided 
a series of luxurious banquets for the poor brut^i. 

On Littleton Island Dr. Kane determined to establish his first 
depot of stores, for use on the return voyage. The life-boat was 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 177 

loaded with provisions, blankets, and other articles, and then buried. 
Along her gunwale were placed the heaviest rocks the men could 
handle; and after the interstices had been filled up with smaller 
stones and sods of andromeda and moss, sand and water were 
poured among the layers. All this, frozen at once into a solid mass, 
would be hard enough, it was hoped, to resist the claws of the 
Polar bear. 

Continuing his adventurous course, he passed through the 
drifting ice to some distance beyond Cape Lifeboat Cove and took 
shelter in a beautiful little bay, landlocked from east to west, and 
accessible only from the north, which he named Refuge Harbor. It 
was some time before the ice broke up sufficiently to permit of his 
effecting his escape; and even after he had once more got out into 
the channel, he had a daily fight with bergs and floes. At one time, 
while anchored off a rocky island which he called "Godsend Ledge," 
a perfect hurricane came on ; and though he had three haAvsers out, 
they snapped one after the other, like mere threads, and the "Ad- 
vance'^ drifted to and fro at the mercy of the "wild ice." His only 
hope of safety lay in mooring close to a berg; and this effected, the 
brig was towed along by a gigantic courser — "the spray dashing 
over his windward flanks, and his forehead plowing up the lesser 
ice as if in scorn." Drifting masses, broken up and hurtled together 
by a tremendous storm, threatened them with destruction; and the 
explorers were thankful when, on the 22d, the gale abated, and they 
carried their little vessel into comparatively smooth water, sheltered 
by the ice-belt which lined the rocky and mountainous coast. 

Having secured a haven of safety for the "Advance," Dr. Kane 
resolved to make a personal inspection of the coast, in order to select 
a convenient winter-station from which he might start on his sledge- 
journeys in the following spring. For this purpose he had caused 
his best and lightest whale-boat to be fitted with a canvas cover, that 
rendered it not less comfortable than a tent. A supply of pemmican 
was packed in small cases, and a sledge taken to pieces stowed away 



178 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

under the thwarts. The boat's crew consisted of Brooks, Bonsall, 
McGary, Sonntag, Riley, Blake, and Morton. Each man had 
bufifalo-robes for his sleeping gear, carried a girdle full of woolen 
socks to keep them dry by the warmth of the body, and slung a tin 
cup and a sheath-knife to his belt. A' soup-pot and lamp for the 
mess, and a single extra day suit as common property, completed 
the outfit. 

Such were the difficulties of the route, consisting of waterways, 
gullies and hummocks, that it took them five days to advance forty 
miles, at the end of which they were forced to abandon the sledge 
and proceed on foot. Their journey led to an open bay, due, as he 
found, to a rushing stream, about three-quarters of a mile wide, 
flowing, as was afterwards observed, from a melting glacier. 

Here, in the heart of the dreary snowscape, the travelers met 
with an Arctic flower-growth, of considerable variety of form and 
color. The infiltration of the melted snows fed its roots, and the 
reverberation of the sun's heat from the rocks fostered its delicate 
life. Amid festuca and other tufted grasses, brightened the purple 
lychnis and sparkled the white stem of the chickweed; together 
with a graceful hesperis, reminding the wanderers of the fragrant 
wallflower of our old English gardens. 

After fording the river. Dr. Kane climbed a lofty headland, the 
view from which was most impressive. It extended beyond the 
eightieth parallel of north latitude. Far ofif on the left lay the western 
shore of the sound, receding towards the dim, mist}'- north. To the 
right a rolling country led on to a low, dusky, wall-like ridge, which 
he afterwards recognized as the Great Humboldt Glacier; and still 
beyond this, reaching northward from the north-northeast, lay the 
land which now bears the honored name of Washington — its most 
projecting headland. Cape Andrew Jackson, bearing about fourteen 
degrees from the farthest hill on the opposite side. Cape John Bar- 
row. All between was one vast sheet of ice. Close along its shore, 
almost looking down upon it from the crest of their lofty station, 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 179 

the explorers could see the long lines of hummocks dividing the 
floes like the trenches of a beleaguered city. Farther out, a stream 
of icebergs, increasing in numbers towards the north, presented an 
almost impenetrable barrier; but beyond these the ice seemed less 
obstructed and obstructive, and patches of open water glimmered 
on the distant horizon. 

On their return to the brig preparations w^re made for the 
coming winter, which it was decided to pass in the secure haven 
they had reached, since known as Rensselaer Harbor. By the loth 
of September the thermometer had fallen to 14 degrees Fahrenheit 
and the ice-floes had been welded into a compact mass by newly- 
formed ice. About sixty paces north of the ship an iceberg had 
been caught in the toils and remained as their gigantic neighbor as 
long as they occupied that harbor. The long winter passed slowly 
enough, with what alleviations they could find in their contracted 
quarters and with such labor as seemed necessary in preparation for 
the coming spring. 

The first traces of returning light were observed at noon on the 
2ist of January, when a tint of orange lighted up, very briefly, the 
southern horizon. Necessarily, the influence of the long and intense 
darkness was very depressing, and was felt even by the lower 
animals, many of the dogs dying from "a mental disease," clearly 
due to the a1:)sence of light. The symptoms of this disease were very 
peculiar, and deserve to be indicated. The more material functions 
of the poor creatures went on, it would appear, without interrup- 
tion, — they ate voraciously, retained their strength, and slept 
soundly. But, otherwise, they acted as if suffering from lunacy. 
They barked frenziedly at nothing, and walked in straight and 
curved lines with anxious and unwearying perseverance. They 
fawned on their masters, but without seeming conscious of the 
caresses lavished upon them in return. Their most intelligent 
actions seemed automatic ; sometimes they clawed you, as if seeking 
to burrow into your seal-skins ; sometimes thev remained for hours 



i8o DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

in moody silence, and then started off howling as if pursued and 
ran up and down for hours. 

A terrible adventure lay before the explorers. On the 20th of 
March a party was sent out to establish a depot of provisions, and 
Kane and the rest of his followers waited only for their return to 
begin the transit of the bay. Late at night on the 31st, they were 
working cheerfully by the glare of their lamps, when a sudden noise 
of steps was heard above, and immediately afterwards Sorintag, 
Ohlsen, and Petersen came down into the cabin. If there was some- 
thing startling in their unexpected arrival, much more startling 
was their appearance. They were swollen, haggard, and scarcely 
able to speak. 

Where were their companions? Behind in the ice, — Brooks, 
Baker, Wilson, and Pierre — all frozen and disabled ; and they them- 
selves had risked their lives to carry the pitiful news. Where were 
their comrades lying ? With cold white lips they muttered that they 
could not tell ; somewhere in among the hummocks to the north and 
east; the snow was drifting round them heavily when they parted. 
"Irish Tom" had gallantly remained to feed and care for them, but 
of their recovery there was little hope. It was useless to put addi- 
tional questions; the men were too exhausted to be able to rally 
their ideas. 

A rescue party was quickly organized and set out on the trail 
of the lost explorers, Ohlsen being taken with them on a sledge as 
a guide to the locality in which they had been left. Finally they 
were obliged to leave their tent, cache their pemmican, except a 
small allowance for each, and proceed through a temperature of 
nearly — 50 degrees. 

It was indispensable, then, that they should move on as rapidly 
as possible, looking for traces as they went. Yet when the men were 
ordered to spread themselves, so as to multiply the chances, though 
they all obeyed heartily, some painful impress of solitary danger kept 
them closing up continually into a single group. The strange 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE i8i 

manner in which some of them were affected nmst be attributed as 
much to shattered nerves as to the direct influence of the cold. Men 
hke McGary and Bonsall, who had stood out the severest marches, 
were seized with trembhng fits and short breath ; and, in spite of all 
his efforts to keep up an example of sound bearing, Kane fainted 
twice on the snow. 

"We had been nearly eighteen hours out without water or food, 
when a new hope cheered us. I think it was Hans, our Eskimo 
hunter, who thought he saw a broad sledge-track. The drift had 
nearly effaced it, and we were some of us doubtful at first whether 
it was not one of those accidental rifts which the gales make in the 
surface-snow. But as we traced it on to the deep snow among the 
hummocks, we were led to footsteps; and, following these with 
religious care, we at last came in sight of a small American flag 
fluttering from a hummock, and lower down a little masonic banner 
hanging from a tent-pole hardly above the drift. It was the camp 
of our disabled comrades. We reached it after an unbroken march 
of twenty-one hours." 

They found the little tent almost buried in the snow. When 
Dr. Kane came up, his men, who had outstripped him, were stand- 
ing in silent file on each side of it. With a delicacy of feeling which 
is almost characteristic of sailors, and seems instinctive to them, 
they expressed a desire that he should enter alone. As he crawled 
beneath the tent-curtain, and, coming upon the darkness, heard 
before him the burst of welcome gladness that came from the poor 
prostrate creatures wathin, and then for the first time the cheer 
without, his weakness and gratitude almost overcame him. "They 
had expected him," was their exclamation ; "they were sure he would 
come !" 

The return was made with all the haste available. Nothing 
was carried but what was indispensable, everything else being 
abandoned. A great part of the track lay among a succession of 
hummocks, fifteen or twenty feet high and too steep to be ascended. 



183 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

The sledge had to pursue a winding course around these obstacles, 
frequently driving through gaps filled with recently-fallen snow, 
which hid the fissures and openings in the ice beneath. These, says 
Kane, were fearful traps to disengage a Hmb from, for every man 
was painfully aware that a fracture or even a sprain might cost him 
his life. In addition, the sledge was top-heavy with its load, which 
weighed not less than iioo pounds, while the maimed men could 
not bear to be lashed down tight enough to secure them against 
falling off. 

Yet, for the six hours, the progress of this undaunted band was 
cheering. They advanced nearly a mile an hour, and reached the 
new floes before they were absolutely weary. "Our sledge," says 
Kane, "sustained the trial admirably. Ohlsen, restored by hope, 
walked steadily at the leading belt of the sledge lines ; and I began 
to feel certain of reaching our half-way station of the day before, 
where we had left our tent. But we were still nine miles from it, 
when, almost without premonition, we all became aware of an 
alarming failure of our energies." 

Bonsall and Morton, two of the most robust of the party, be- 
sought permission to sleep. They declared that they did not feel 
cold, and that all they wanted was a little repose. Presently Hans 
was found frozen almost into rigidity under a drift; and Thomas, 
standing erect, had his eyes closed, and could scarcely articulate. 
Soon afterwards, John Blake threw himself on the snow, and 
refused to rise. They made no complaint of feeling cold; but it was 
in vain that Dr. Kane "wrestled, boxed, ran, argued, jeered, or 
reprimanded;" he found that an immediate halt was unavoidable. 

We must condense the remainder of this story of Arctic terrors. 
The tent was at length reached and found in good condition, though 
a bear had overturned it and made havoc to some extent with its 
contents. After several hours of sleep they set out once more, in 
good spirits considering the circumstances. Yet their hard labors 
soon told on them again. As they grew weaker and weaker, their 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 183 

halts necessarily became more frequent; and they would fall, in a 
semi-somnolent condition, on the snow. Strange to say, these brief 
intervals of slumber proved refreshing, so that Dr. Kane was 
induced to try the experiment in his own person, taking care that 
Riley should arouse him at the end of three minutes. Afterwards 
he timed the men in the same way. They sat upon the runners of 
the sledge, and fell asleep immediately, but were startled into wake- 
fulness the moment their three minutes had elapsed. 

At eight in the evening the wayfarers were clear of the floes, 
and gained some new hope at the sight of the well-known Pinnacly 
Berg. Brandy, which sometimes proves an invaluable resource in 
emergencies, had already been administered in tablespoonful doses. 
After a final and stronger dram, and a longer rest, they resolved on 
a last effort to reach the brig, which they attained at one hour after 
noon. 

But words are inadequate to describe their sufferings in this 
last stage of their journey. They were completely delirious, and no 
longer entertained any clear apprehension of what was transpiring. 
Like men in a dream they staggered onward, blindly, uncertainly. 
From an inspection of their footprints afterwards, it was seen that 
they had steered a bee-line for the brig, guided by a kind of instinct, 
for they remembered nothing of their course. 

When about two miles from the brig they w^ere met by Petersen 
and Whipple, with the dog-traces, and a supply of restoratives, for 
which Kane had sent a message in advance by Bonsall. As soon as 
the frozen, wayworn creatures were safe on board. Dr. Hayes took 
them under his charge. All were suffering from brain-symptoms, 
functional not organic, and to be rectified by rest and abundant diet. 
Ohlsen was for some time afflicted with blindness and strabismus; 
two others underwent amputation of parts of the foot, but without 
dangerous consequences; and two died, in spite of every attention. 
The rescue-party had traveled between eighty and ninety miles, 
dragging a heavy sledge for most of the distance. They had been 



i84 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

out for seventy-two hours, and halted in all eight hours. The mean 
temperature of the whole time, including the noontide hours of 
three days, was about — 41 degrees, or 70 degrees belozu freezing- 
point. Except at their two halts they had no means of quenching 
their thirst, and they could at no time intermit vigorous exercise 
without freezing. 

Dr. Kane's purpose, as we are aware, was not that of seeking 
to reach the pole or to make a great northward record, but to search 
for the Sir John Franklin party or relics of its passage. As many 
expeditions had entered the channels opening west from Baffin Bay, 
he had gone farther north, hoping to find other channels leading 
east or west from the upper extremity of Smith Sound. He believed 
that, at least, some of the hardier members of the Franklin party 
might be alive, dwelling perhaps with the far northern Eskimos, or 
living on the proceeds of their own skill in hunting. 

In pursuance of this purpose, at the end of April, 1854, Kane 
and seven of his men — ten of the party being left on the brig- — 
started north on an exploring excursion, proposing to follow up the 
ice-belt to the Humboldt Glacier, there to replenish their food supply 
from the cache of pemmican they had made in their trip of the 
previous October, and then attempt to cross the ice of the sound to 
the opposite shore. This was to be the crowning effort of the expe- 
dition, to measure the frozen waste which lay between Greenland 
and the unknown land to the west, and make a search for an opening 
into the mysterious regions which lay in the higher north. This 
purpose, while not completely carried out, led to geographical results 
of much interest. Smith Sound here opens Into a wide landlocked 
sea, since known as Kane Basin, on which fronts the enormous 
Humboldt Glacier, the greatest probably in existence. Its curved 
face, from Cape Agassiz' to Cape Forbes, measures fully sixty miles 
in length, and presents a grand wall or front of glistening ice, 
kindled here and there into dazzling glory by the sun. Its form is 
that of a wedge, the apex lying inland, at perhaps "not more than a 





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DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 185 

single clay's railroad travel from the Pole." Thus it passes away 
into the center of the Greenland continent, which is occupied by an 
unbroken sea of ice, twelve hundred miles in length and of great 
depth, that receives a perpetual increase from the constantly falling 
snows. A frozen sea, yet a sea in constant motion, rolling onward 
slowly, laboriously, but surely, to find an outlet at each fiord or 
valley, and to load the seas of Greenland and the Atlantic with 
mighty icebergs. 

This great glacier effectually terminated the labors of the 
explorers in that direction, and Dr. Kane decided that their future 
search should be made to the north and east of Cape Sabine, — so 
named by Captain Inglesfield, — on the coast of Ellesmere Land, 
which lay on the opposite side of Smith Sound. The expeditiort 
above mentioned was one of severe labors and much suffering upon 
the part of the explorers. The heroic leader, indeed, almost suc- 
cumbed to the terrible hardships of this adventurous journey, and 
was carried back to the sledge in so prostrate a condition that recov- 
ery seemed hopeless. It may be doubted, indeed, whether his 
strength was ever thoroughly recruited, though the skill and atten- 
tion of Dr. Ha3^es, and his own undaunted spirit, rescued him from 
the jaws of death. All the men were more or less afflicted, and in 
the middle of June only three were able to do duty, and of the officers 
Dr. Hayes alone was on his feet. 

During the succeeding spring and summer other expeditions 
were sent out, the most important being under the lead of William 
Morton and comprising McGary, Bonsall, Hickey, Riley, and Hans, 
their Eskimo companion. Its orders were to push forward to the 
base of the Humboldt Glacier, there replenish their provisions from 
the cache, and while some of the men attempted to scale and survey 
the glacier, Morton and Hans were to cross the bay in the dog- 
sledge and follow the northwest coast, in the hope of discovering a 
northern outlet from the extensive Kane Sea. 

Some interesting results were obtained by the latter party. 



iS6 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

Their progress across the ice was not unattended with danger; but 
these explorers were men not easily daunted. They clambered up 
hillocks, and bridged broad chasms, and wound in and out of tower- 
ing bergs, with equal skill and intrepidity; well seconded by their 
dogs, which showed as much sure-footedness as mules. At Cape 
Andrew Jackson they reached what appeared to be the farthest 
limit of the ice; and, looking northward, up what is now known as 
]?Cennedy Channel, they »saw a broad expanse of open water. The 
landscape was also of a brighter character than any they had 
recently seen; a long low plain spreading between large headlands, 
and relieved here and there by ranges of rolling hills. Down the 
valley came a flock of brent geese with whirring wings; and the 
waves were darkened by the shadows of ducks and dovekies. Tern 
abounded, and the air literally echoed with their shrill cries. 

The great channel of open water continued to spread to the 
northward. Broken ice was floating in it, but with passages fifteen 
miles wide, and perfectly clear. "There would have been no diffi- 
culty," they said, "in a frigate standing anywhere." 

Pushing forward boldly Morton and his companion entered 
upon a bold deep curve in the eastern shore, which they designated 
Lafayette Bay. Beyond it lay two islands, which Dr. Kane after- 
wards named in honor of Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier. 
The lie phis ultra of their adventurous journey was Cape Consti- 
tution, in latitude 80 degrees 10 minutes north, where the ice-foot 
seemed nearly to terminate. Here the cliffs were about two thou- 
sand feet in height, nobly guarding the water-way which apparently 
led to the enchanted region of the North Pole. Morton attempted 
to pass round the cape, but as there was no ice-foot his efforts were 
in vain; and he found it impossible to ascend the lofty cliffs. So 
he fastened to his walking-staff the Grinnell flag of the "Antarctic" 
— a well-worn relic, which had already fluttered in two Polar voy- 
ages — and rearing it on high, its weather-worn folds floated freely 
"over the highest northern land, not only of America, but of the 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 187 

globe." Straining his gaze into the misty distance, Morton could 
dimly see, far away on the western shore, a bare truncated peak, 
which they supposed to be 2,500 or 3,000 feet in height and to which 
Kane gave the name of the great pioneer of Arctic travel. Sir Ed- 
ward Parry. 

The summer advanced, August came, and efforts were made 
to release the brig, which for eleven months had been imprisoned in 
the ice. These eft'orts proved useless, the young ice began to close 
in all around the harbor, and it was evident that another winter 
lay before them in the ice, unless they should attempt to escape in 
their boats and seek the Danish settlements on the Greenland coast. 
Dr. Kane determined to stand by the ship until the following spring, 
but left it to the others to decide if they would remain with him. 
Eight concluded to do so, while the remainder started on August 
28th in one of the boats, under the leadership of Dr. Hayes, deter- 
mined to push their way south, if possible. It did not prove possi- 
sible. One of them returned in a few days after the start and the 
others in December. For three months they had been frozen up 
in an Eskimo hut, built in a rock crevice, within three hundred 
miles of the brig. Here they lived almost without fire and light and 
on such small supplies of walrus meat as they could procure from 
natives living fifty miles away. In the end starvation drove them 
back to the vessel, traveling by moonlight, with the aid of Eskimo 
dogs and sledges. In the journey Dr. Hayes fell into a space of 
open water and was wet to the skin. His body was badly frozen 
in many places, and he was only kept alive by the driver pounding 
him with his whip-stock. 

The winter passed away with distressing slowness. All the 
precautions they could take did not prevent them from suffering 
from the terrible cold of an Arctic winter, while the want of proper 
and sufficient food and the appearance of scurvy among them aggra- 
vated their pains. Their location was north of the Eskimo village 
of Etah — now so well known as a starting point for Arctic expe- 



iS8 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

ditions — the nearest settlement being that of Annootok, with the 
natives of which they kept in communication. 

As the winter advanced their condition daily grew wors'e, 
scurvy bringing the most of them to the verge of the grave. In 
December not more than three were capable of active work and to 
add to their trouble the supply of fuel ran short, so mvich so that 
it was necessary to resort to the outside oak sheathing of the vessel. 

On February 25, 1855, the sun once more rose above the long, 
deep, gloomy night of an Arctic winter. Early in March they ob- 
tained a supply of walrus meat, which probably saved the lives of 
the whole party. A brief entry in Dr. Kane's journal, under the 
date of April 22d, clearly indicates the wretched condition of these 
brave men. Here it is : ''I read our usual prayers ; and Dr. Hayes, 
who feels sadly the loss of his foot, came aft and crawled upon deck 
to sniff the daylight. He had not seen the sun for five months and 
three weeks!" 

Dr. Kane now undertook a sledge journey to Etah, in order 
to effect the purchase of a fresh supply of sledge dogs. Elere he 
was hospitably received. A visit to an Eskimo hut, however, is 
not one of pleasure. Such an "amorphous mass of compounded 
humanity" is nowhere else to be seen: men, women and children, 
with little but their native dirt to cover them, crowded together in 
a close, stifling cell, fifteen feet by six! As Kane failed to obtain 
the dogs, he was forced to abandon the further exploration he had 
meditated on in search of traces of the Franklin expedition. With- 
out dogs this was impossible, and out of sixty-two only four were 
left. Nothing remained but to prepare for their homeward journey, 
and as they were hopeless of extricating the "Advance" from its 
Icy prison, it became necessary to make the effort in their boats. 

These were three in number ; but all were well worn by expos- 
ure to ice and storm. Two were "cypress whale-boats," twenty-six 
feet long, with seven feet beam, and three feet deep. These were 
strengthened with oak bottom pieces, and a long "string piece' 



. DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 189 

bolted to the keel. The gunwale was fortified, and additional depth 
obtained, by means of a washboard of light cedar, about six inches 
high. A neat housing of light canvas was stretched upon a ridge- 
line sustained fore and aft by stanchions, and hung down over the 
boat's sides, where it was fastened (stopped) to a jack-stay. Each 
boat carried a single mast, stepped into an oaken thwart in such a 
manner that it could be readily unshipped and carried, with the oars, 
boat hooks, and ice poles, alongside the boat. The third boat was 
the little ''Red Eric," which was mounted on the old sledge; not, 
indeed, with any intention of using her for purposes of navigation, 
but to cut her up for firewood, in case the supply of blubber sh'ould 
fail. 

Powder and shot, on which the lives of the travelers depended, 
were carefully distributed in bags and tin canisters. The percus- 
sion caps Dr. Kane himself took charge of, as more precious than 
gold. To Mr. Bonsall were entrusted the arms and ammunition. 
Places were arranged for the guns, and hunters appointed for each 
boat. Mr. Petersen looked after the cooking gear. In fact, for 
each man a special duty was found, and nothing was neglected that 
could contribute in any way to the safety of the party. The com- 
pleteness and thoughtfulness of these preparations had the best 
effect on the spirits of the men; and though some of them still 
doubted whether escape was possible, all braced up their energies 
to make the attempt. As most of them were invalids, some little 
preliminary training was needed ; but this required to be very grad- 
ual. "We made but two miles the first day," says Kane, ''and with 
a single boat ; and, indeed, for some time after this I took care that 
the}'- should not be disheartened by overwork. They came back 
early to a hearty supper and warm beds ; and I had the satisfaction 
of marching them back each recurring morning refreshed and 
cheerful." 

They bade farewell to the brig, which had been their home for 
upwards of two years, with much solemnity. The whole company 



I90 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

assembled in the dismantled winter cabin to assist in the ceremony. 
It was Sunday. They read prayers and a chapter of the Bible. 
Then Dr. Kane addressed them in a few manly words. He did not 
attempt to disguise the difficulties that lay before them ; but he de- 
clared that they could be overcome by energy and subordination to 
command, and that the thirteen hundred miles of ice and water 
that lay between them and North Greenland could be safely tra- 
versed by the majority — and that, indeed, there was hope for all. 
He added that, as men and mess-mates, it was their duty — and a 
duty enjoined upon them alike by religion and true courage — to 
postpone every consideration of self to the protection of the sick 
and the wounded; and this, under all circumstances, and by every 
one of them, must be regarded as a paramount order. In conclu- 
sion, he desired them to reflect upon the trials they had experienced 
and surmounted, and to remember how often an unseen Power had 
rescued them in the hour of danger. In Him it was for all of them 
to put their trust, confident that He would shield and save. 

For the first part of, the journey all went well and favorable 
progress was made, though on many days their labors were severe 
and at times disheartening, as the following extract from Dr. Kane's 
journal will show: 

"From this time," he says, "we went on for some days, aided 
by our sails, meeting with accidents occasionally — the giving way 
of a spar or the falling of some of the party through the spongy 
ice — and occasionally, when the floe was altogether too infirm, labor- 
ing our way with great difficulty upon the ice belt. To mount this 
solid highway, or to descend from it, the axes were always in requi- 
sition. An inclined plane was to be cut, ten, fifteen, or even thirty 
feet long ; and along this the sledges were to be pushed and guided 
by bars and levers with painful labor. These are light things, as 
I refer to them here; but in our circumstances, at the time I write 
of, when the breaking Of a stick of timber was an irreparable harm, 
and the delay of a day involved the peril of life, they were grave 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 191 

enough. Even on the floes the axe was often indispensable to carve 
our path through the hummocks; and many a weary and anxious 
hour have 'I looked on and toiled while the sledges were waiting 
for the way to open. Sometimes, too, both on the land ice and on 
the belt, we encountered heavy snow drifts, which were to be shov- 
eled away before we could get along ; and within an hour afterward, 
or perhaps even at the bottom of the drift, one of the sledge runners 
would cut through to the water." 

On the 1 2th of June Littleton Island was reached and the sup- 
plies they had formerly left there were found in excellent order. 
Ohlsen, one of the bravest and most intelligent of Dr. Kane's crew, 
at this point succumbed to disease, and was buried decently in a 
little gorge; his remains being duly protected from fox and bear. 
After this sad ceremony the march was resumed ; but as they neared 
the Eskimo settlements it became less toilsome, assistance being 
freely given by the children of the Arctic world. They volunteered 
their aid at the drag ropes ; they carried the sick upon hand sledges ; 
they poured in abundant supplies of fresh food, the quantity of 
little auks they brought being characterized as "enormous." They 
fed the explorers and their dogs at the rate of eight thousand bird's 
a week, all of them caught in their little hand nets. No wonder that, 
under such favorable circumstances, Dr. Kane and his followers 
threw ofif their gloom for a time. The men indulged in their old 
forecastle songs ; the sledges began to move merrily ahead ; and the 
old moody silence gave way to laugh and jest. 

Their progress was somewhat remarkable considering the 
scanty supply of food to which they were reduced, the daily allow- 
ance consisting of only six ounces of bread-dust and a lump of tallow 
about the size of a walnut, to which was added, when fresh water 
could be procured, a cup of that great restorative, tea. Of this 
stimulating beverage they drank immoderately and were greatly 
benefited by it. 

At times, too, they had the opportunity of a very acceptable 



192 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

feast, as when on one occasion they heard the welcome sound of a 
large flock of eider ducks. Knowing that the breeding place of 
these birds must be near at hand, tliey sought and found it. Here 
they remained for three days, gorging themselves on eggs, of which 
they found as many as twelve hundred in a day, and unheeding a 
tempest which was then howling over their heads. 

After Cape York was reached and passed the birds failed them 
and they were reduced to their scanty diet again, their stock of pro- 
visions being diminished until they had only about thirty-six pounds 
per man. Of fuel they had a three weeks' supply, to which they 
added by cutting up the "Red Eric," and proceeding in the other 
two boats, on which its wood w^as loaded. 

Under the influence of insufficient food the strength of the 
wayfarers steadily declined. Five ounces of bread-dust, four of 
tallow and three of bird-meat was all that could be allowed for a 
day's rations, a very small supply in that severe climate and under 
circumstances of incessant toil. 

Dr. Kane remarks as curious that the effect of insufficient food 
is not, as might be supposed, the pangs of hunger. The first symp- 
tom is loss of power, often so imperceptibly brought on that only an 
accident reveals its extent. "I well remember," he says, "our look 
of blank amazement as, one day, the order being given to haul the 
'Hope^ over a tongue of ice, we found that she \vould not budge. 
At first I thought it was owing to the wetness of the snow-covered 
surface in which her runners were ; but as there was a heavy gale 
blowing outside, and I was extremely anxious to get her on to a 
larger floe to prevent being drifted off, T lightened her cargo, and 
set both crews upon her. In the land of promise off Crimson Cliffs, 
such a force would have trundled her like a wheelbarrow : we could 
almost have borne her upon our backs. Now, with incessant labor 
and standing hauls, she moved at a snail's pace." 

It was on this occasion that the little company nearly lost their 
best boat, the "Faith," which drifted away from the ice-floe. The 



I 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 193 

sight produced an almost hysterical impression, for she had on 
board all their stbres. Happily, before they could fully realize all 
the consequences of her probable loss, a flat cake of ice eddied into 
the vicinity of the floe. McGary and Dr. Kane sprang upon it, and 
succeeded in floating it across the chasm in time to secure the boat. 
Then the rest of the crew rejoined her, with emotions of thankful- 
ness which the reader may well imagine. 

In this extremity, the discovery of a seal asleep upon a field 
of ice filled them with joy. They approached it with extreme care, 
and as it raised itself in its fore-flippers, preparatory to a plunge, 
a well-aimed rifle shot brought it down. 

With a wild shout both boats charged full upon the floes. 
Eager hands seized the precious booty, and lifted it upon safer ice. 
The men, as if lost in a delirium of joy, ran over the ice, crying, 
laughing and brandishing their knives. Never was animal more 
quickly prepared for the table; never were viands more keenly rel- 
ished. A grand cooking fire was kindled, and the famished voy- 
agers enjoyed that night a strange, almost a savage orgie. 

It is unnecessary to dwell minutely on the later incidents of the 
journey. On the ist of August Dr. Kane sighted the Devil's 
Thumb, and was soon in waters that are familiar to every whaler. 
Passing to the south of Cape Shackleton, the voyagers followed up 
the quiet water channels that run parallel to the coast, occasionally 
killing a seal or some birds, and at night encamping upon the rocks. 

Two days later, as they were slowly rowing through the mist, 
a familiar sound — the cadence of a "halloo" — came to them over 
the waters. With joyous hearts they pulled in the direction of the 
sound, and in about half an hour could make out the single mast of 
a small shallop. "Tis the Upernavik oil-boat!" cried Petersen, 
half laughing, half crying. And such, indeed, it proved to be. In 
a few minutes they were on board of her, and in the embraces of 
old friends. 

"Here," says Kane — and the conclusion of his narrative is best 



,194 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 

given in his own words— ''here we first got our cloudy, vague idea 
of what had passed in the big world during our absence. The 
friction of its fierce rotation had not much disturbed this little out- 
post of civilization; and we thought it a sort of blunder as Carlie 
Mossyn told us that France and England were leagued with the 
Mussulman against the Greek Church ! He was a good Lutheran, 
this assistant cooper, and all news with him had a theological com- 
plexion. . . . 

"But 'Sir John Franklin?' There we were at home again. 
Our own delusive little speciality rose uppermost. Franklin's party, 
or traces of the dead which represented it, had been found nearly a 
thousand miles to the south of where we had been searching for 
them. . . . And so we 'out oars' again, and rowed into the 
fogs. 

"Another sleeping-halt has passed, and we have all washed 
clean at the fresh-water basins, and furbished up our ragged furs 
and woolens. Kasarsoak, the snowy top of Sanderson Hope, shows 
itself above the mists, and we hear the yelling of the dogs. Peter- 
sen had been foreman of the settlement; and he calls my attention 
with a sort of pride to the tolling of the workmen's bell. It is six 
o'clock. We are nearing the end of our trials. Can it be a dream? 

"We hugged the land by the big harbor, turned the corner by 
the old brew-house, and in the midst of a crowd of children hauled 
our boats for the last time upon the rocks. 

"For eighty-four days we had lived in the open air. Ouil 
habits were hard and weather worn. We could not remain within 
the four walls of a house without a distressing sense of suffocation. 
But we drank coffee that night before many a hospitable threshold, 
and listened again and again to the hymn of welcome, which, sung 
by many voices, greeted our deliverance." 

Dr. Kane and his party remained at Upernavik until the 6th 
of September, when they embarked on board the "Marianne" for 
the Shetland Isles. But putting in at Godhavn, they caught sight 



DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 195 

of an American squadron, under Captain Hartstene, which had 
been despatched in quest of them, and soon afterwards found them- 
selves under the shelter of the national flag. At New York Dr. 
Kane received the honorable welcome to which his courage, his 
fertility of resource, his patient resolution and his noble purpose 
had entitled him. And though he had failed to discover Sir John 
Franklin, he had deserved well of the civilized world, having con- 
siderably enlarged its knowledge of the Polar regions. 

Yet his suffering and exposure had fatally undermined his 
constitution. In 1856 he went to England and thence to Cuba to 
recuperate, but his health was broken beyond recovery and he died 
at Havana in February, 1857, two years after his return. 



CHAPTER XV, 

Hayes, Hall and other Hardy Adventurers 

IN i860 began another of the American expeditions to the Pole, 
under the command of Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, who had accom- 
panied the Kane expedition as surgeon, had discovered Grin- 
nell Land in 1855, and had traversed the icy seas to a latitude 
beyond 80 degrees. On the 6th of July, i860, he set sail on an 
expedition under his own command, in which he hoped to pass the 
ice belt in Smith Sound and reach the open polar sea — he firmly 
believing, from past experiences, that the sea about the North Pole 
was not frozen. He was accompanied by Messrs. Sonntag and 
Radclifife as astronomer and assistant astronomer, and by a crew of 
twelve officers and men. 

On the 30th of July they crossed the Arctic Circle, and on the 
second day of August, as they lay becalmed off the Greenland coast, 
they beheld a scene which Dr. Hayes describes for us in the follow- 
ing glowing language. 

"It seemed as if we had been drawn by some unseen hand 
into a land of enchantment. Plere was the Valhalla of the sturdy 
Vikings, here the city of the sungod Freya; Alfheim, with its elfin 
curves, and Glitner, more brilliant than the sun, the home of the 
happy; and there, piercing the clouds, was Himnborg, the celestial 
mount." 

His eloquent diary gives further details of the scene before 

his enraptured eyes. His description is well worth reproducing, as 

a pen-picture of the beauty often to be seen in the northern seasi; 

"The air was almost as warm as that of a southern summer 

eve; and yet before them were the icebergs and the bleak moun- 

(196) 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 197 

tains, with which it is im]DOSsible, in this land of green hills and 
waving woods, to associate any idea other than that of cold repul- 
siveness. Bright and soft was the sky, and as strangely inspiring 
as that of Italy. The bergs had lost their cold, frozen look, and 
glittered in the glow of the brilliant heavens like masses of solid 
flame or burnished metal. Those near at hand seemed to have been 
wrought out of Parian marble, and incrusted with shining gems of 
pearl and opal. One in particular challenged attention by its gran- 
deur. Its form was not unlike that of the Roman Coliseum, and it 
lay so far away that half its height was buried beneath the rim of 
the *blood-red waters.' As the sun, in its course along the horizon, 
passed behind it, one might have thought that the old Roman ruin 
had broken out into a sudden conflagration. 

"Where the bergs cast their silent shadows the water was a 
rich green; and nothing could be softer or more tender than the 
gradual coloring of the sea as it shoaled on the sloping tongue or 
spur of each floating mass. When the ice overhung the water the 
tint deepened, and a cavern in one of the nearer bergs exhibited the 
solid color of the malachite mingled with the transparency of the 
emerald; while, in strange contrast, a broad streak of cobalt shot 
diagonally through its body. 

"The romantic character of the scene was increased by the 
numerous tiny cascades which leaped into the sea from these float- 
ing islands; the water being discharged from lakes of melted snow 
and ice which tranquilly reposed far up in the valleys separating 
the icy ridges of their upper surface. From other bergs large pieces 
were occasionally detached, crashing into the water with deafening 
roar, while the slow ocean-swell resounded hoarsely through their 
broken archways." 

But they were soon to find that the beauty of the iceberg may 
conceal imminent peril. Shortly after leaving Upernavik they had 
such an experience, having come near a nest of icebergs, on whicK 
the current rapidly carried their vessel. An eddy threw them upon 



198 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURER^ 

one of these huge masses, great blocks falling which would have 
crushed the ship if they had struck her. 

This peril escaped, another threatened them. A long tongue 
from the berg projected immediately beneath the schooner, and the 
keel slipped and grinded upon it until it seemed probable that the 
ship would be hurled into the air, or else capsized. Here again the 
berg proved their safety. A loud report was heard; another and 
another followed in swift succession; the roar seemed to fill the air 
with a thousand echoes. The opposite side of the berg had split off, 
piece after piece, tumbling a vast volume of ice into the waves, 
and sending the revolving berg careening back upon the ship. The 
movement now was quicker; fragments began again to fall; and, 
already sufficiently alarmed by the dissolution which had taken 
place. Dr. Hayes and his followers were in momentary expectation 
of seeing the whole side nearest to them give way, and crash down 
upon the steamer. 

They escaped this danger by planting an ice-anchor and draw- 
ing the vessel away from the berg. They were barely in time to 
escape destruction. Scarcely were they twenty yards distant when 
the expected disruption occurred. The side nearest them split off 
and crashed wildly into the sea, raising a tremendous swell and 
covering the tossing waters with fragments of ice. Luckily for 
them they were beyond its reach, and they hastened to get away 
from that scene of peril. 

September had arrived when they at length crossed Melville 
Bay and entered Smith Sound. The young ice was forming 
fast and the season near its close, and it became necessary to seek 
winter quarters. A place was selected in a sheltered cave about 
twenty miles by latitude, but eighty miles by the coast line, south 
of Dr. Kane's wintering place at Rensselaer Harbor. On their 
way thither they had picked up Hans, the Eskimo, who had done 
such good service for Kane and his party. With him were his wife 
and child, who did not prove welcome additions to the ship's crew. 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 199 

The sun sank out of sight behind the southern hills on the 15th 
of October; and the little company of brave men were face to face 
with the long winter darkness of the Polar World. At first a kind 
of soft twilight prevailed, and the golden glow of the unseen orb 
of day rested on the mountain tops; but surely and steadily the 
partial radiance lessened, and slowly and surely came on the sad 
obscurity of the Arctic night. 

, Dr. Hayes occasionally amused himself with taking his team 

of dogs on an excursion. They were twelve in number, healthy, 
strong and swift of foot. They would carry the sledge over the 
ice at a tremendous speed, accomplishing six miles in twenty-eight 
to thirty-three minutes. But to manage them is quite an art, for 
they are guided solely by the whip and voice. 

On the outside are placed the strongest dogs; and the team 
sways to right and left, according as the whip falls on the snow to 
the one side or the other, or as it touches the leading dogs. The 
voice aids the whip, but the experienced driver relies more upon 
compulsion than upon persuasion. This whip is a wonderful in- 
strument. Its lash is about four feet longer than the traces, and 
tipped with a "cracker" of hard sinew, quite capable of phleboto- 
mizing a refractory animal. Its material is simply raw seal-hide, 
and it is attached to a light whip-stock only two feet and a half in 
length. Hence, to roll out the lash to its full length is a truly diffi- 
cult undertaking, and in this, as in other arts, it is practice only that 
makes perfect. 

Driving an Eskimo team, take it all in all, seems to be, as Dr. 
Hayes describes it, the very hardest kind of hard work. Inces- 
santly must the driver ply his whip, and ply it mercilessly as well as 
incessantly, or it will avail him nothing. The least hesitancy or 
weakness on the driver's part is immediately detected by his dogs, 
and they act accordingly. Unless fully convinced that the sound- 
ness of their skins is at his mercy, they will indulge in the greatest 
liberties. "If they see a fox crossing the ice," says Dr. Hayes, "or 



20O HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

come upon a bear-track, or 'wind' a seal, or sight a bird, away they 
dash over snow-drifts and hummocks, pricking up their short ears 
and curHng up their long bushy tails for a wild, wolfish race after 
the game. If the whip-lash goes out with a fierce snap, the ears 
and the tails drop, and they go on about their proper business ; but 
woe be unto you if they get the control. I have seen my own 
driver sorely put to his mettle, and not until he had brought a yell 
of pain from almost every dog in the team did he conquer their 
obstinacy. They were running after a fox, and were taking us 
toward what appeared to be unsafe ice. The wind was blowing 
hard, and the lash was sometimes driven back into the driver's face ; 
hence the difficulty. The whip, however, finally brought them to 
reason ; and in full view of the game, and within a few yards of the 
treacherous ice, they came first down into a limping trot, and then 
stopped, most unwillingly. Of course this made them very cross, 
and a general fight, fierce and angry, now followed, which was not 
quieted until the driver had sailed in among them and knocked them 
to right and left with his hard hickory whip-stock." 

Slowly the winter passed, with its long hours of monotony and 
its few alleviations. Some amusement was afforded by the con- 
jugal vagaries of Hans and his wife. The Eskimo lady was singu- 
larly disinclined for work, and when invited to assist in replenish- 
ing the men's winter wardrobe obstinately refused. Dr. Hayes 
describes her as the most dogged of her sex. She was indifferent 
to everything and everybody, and about once a fortnight indulged 
in a fit of ill temper, in which she was wont to declare her intention 
of abandoning Hans and the expedition, and returning to her own 
people. She essayed the experiment on one occasion, and, with her 
baby on her back, dashed away towards Cape Alexander. Hans, 
however, came out of his tent, as calm and impassive as ever, and 
stood leisurely smoking his pipe, and surveying the receding form 
of his wife and child with the most provoking unconcern. Dr. 
Hayes thought it desirable to call his attention to his wife's strategic 
movement. 



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FAMOUS EARLY ARCTIC ADVENTURERS 



Baron Wrangel 
Sir John Ross 



Henry Hudson 
Sir Edward Parry 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS. 201 

"Yes, me see." 

"Where is she going, Hans?" 

"She no go; she come back all right." 

"But she will freeze, Hans?" 

"She no freeze; she come back by-by, you see." 

And he continued to smoke his pipe with a quiet chuckle and 
a complacent conviction of his knowledge of the ways of womankind 
in general, and of his wife in particular. And in about two hours 
the Eskimo Xantippe came back, looking very blue and cold and 
evidently much subdued. 

A disagreeable incident of the winter detention at Port Foulke 
was the outbreak of an epidemic disorder among the dogs, re- 
sembling mania or delirium. Of the character of this we have pre- 
viously spoken. The mortality was dreadful. In the first two 
weeks of December eighteen died; three more deaths occurred in 
the following week; and Dr. Hayes found himself reduced to nine 
animals. As all his plans of exploration in the coming spring de- 
pended upon the efficiency of his teams as a means of transportation 
across the ice, his anxiety was great ; and in order to obtain a fresh 
supply, he determined on sending Mr. Sonntag, with Hans as 
driver, to the nearest Eskimo settlement on Northumberland Island, 
if necessary, or to Whale Sound, if haply any station should be 
found upon its shores. 

The expedition proved an unfortunate one. After several 
months of absence, Hans came back alone, with the bad news of 
the death of his companion and without the dogs for which he had 
been sent. The story he told was that Mr. Sonntag had incau- 
tiously stepped on some thin ice covering a recently closed tide- 
crack. It gave way and he fell in. Hans hastened to his rescue, 
and the two then turned back for Sorfalik, where a snow hut could 
afford them shelter. Unfortunately, Mr. Sonntag did not change 
his wet clothing; and when the sledge halted at Sorfalik, Hans dis- 
covered that his companion was stiff and speechless. Removing 



202 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

him into the hut as quickly as possible, he placed him in the sleeping 
bag, administered some brandy, and having tightly closed the hut, 
lighted their alcohol lamp, for the double purpose of elevating the 
temperature and making some coffee. His efforts were in vain; 
Sonntag never recovered consciousness, and in a few hours died. 

Hans continued his journey alone, but found it difficult to 
discover any Eskimos, and from those he met at length no dogs 
were to be had. When he returned his team was reduced to five 
miserable attenuated dogs, while the unfortunate trip had resulted 
in the death of one of the most esteemed members of the party. 

With the approach of spring, however. Dr. Hayes succeeded 
in purchasing some good dogs from Eskimos who visited his camp, 
until he got together a group of seventeen hardy animals. With 
these he set out on a preliminary trip northward, of which we need 
only say that one morning, when he emerged from his sleeping 
cave in the snow, he found the thermometer to record the bitterly 
low temperature of 68 degrees below zero, or lOO degrees below the 
freezing point. We find few records surpassing this, though Dr. 
Cook in his recent polar trip reports the extraordinary low tempera- 
ture of — 83 degrees Fahrenheit. During this excursion Rensselaer 
Harbor was reached and traces of Dr. Kane's ship, the "Advance," 
were sought. None were found, and it became probable that the 
deserted ship had sunk before the onset of the ice-floes. 

Returning from this preliminary excursion, preparations were 
made for a more extended one, and on the 3d of April the party, 
twelve in number, set out merrily with two sledges, "The Hope," 
drawn by eight dogs, and "The Perseverance," by six. It did not 
go on merrily, for difficulties and obstacles beset the explorers, so 
that in twenty- two days they advanced only thirty miles. Four 
more days passed, and then, on April 28th, being half-way across 
the Kane Basin, Hayes sent back eight of his men, proceeding with 
three companions in his dash towards Grinnell Land, on the oppo- 
site side of the water. This was not reached until May nth, after 
thirty-eight days of exhausting labor. 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 203 

From this point the energetic explorers pushed northward, 
though only twelve days' allowance of dog food remained. Onward 
they went until Kennedy Channel was entered, and a point beyond 
that attained by Morton, in Kane^s expedition, was reached. At this 
point Jansen, the strongest man in the expedition, broke down. He 
was left in charge of Macdonald, and Hayes pushed on with Knorr, 
the remaining member of the small party. 

His progress was checked at length by the rotten ice, which 
proved to be impassable. Hayes had reached his ne plus ultra; he 
had not attained latitude 82 degrees, but he had actually advanced 
to the shore of that northernmost gulf, into which Kennedy Channel 
opens through a broad bay. Here the ice was broken up, and water- 
ways ramified across it, and led into the free ocean which, it may be, 
lies beyond. Climbing to the summit of a rugged cliff about 800 
feet in height, Hayes was rewarded for his labors and suffering by 
a glorious prospect. Standing against the dark "water-sky" at the 
north, rose, in dim outline, the white sloping summit of a noWe 
headland, the northernmost known land upon the globe. He calcu- 
lated it to be in latitude 82 degrees 30 minutes, or about four hun- 
dred and fifty miles from the North Pole. Nearer, another bold 
cape stood forth ; and nearer, a third headland towered majestically 
above the sea, as if pushing up into the very skies a lofty mountain- 
peak, on which winter had dropped its diadem of snows. 

Nothing remained for him but to return as quickly as possible 
to Port Foulke ; as quickly as possible, for the summer was rapidly 
approaching, the ice was yielding to the solar influence, and the open 
water was eating from Kennedy Channel into the ice-masses of 
Smith Sound in the north, as well as through Baffin Bay in the 
south. But before turning his back on the unexplored Polar Sea, 
he desired to erect some memorial of his adventures. Some flags 
which he had brought with him were suspended by a whip-lasH 
between two tall rocks ; and the following record, enclosed in a small 
glass vial, was deposited beneath a hastily-reared cairn of stones: 



204 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

"This point, the most northern land that has ever been reached, 
was visited by the undersigned, May i8, 19, 1861, accompanied by 
George F. Knorr, traveHng with a dog-sledge. We arrived here 
after a toilsome march of forty-six days from my winter harbor, 
near Cape Alexander, at the mouth of Smith Sound. My observa- 
tions place us in latitude 81 degrees 35 minutes, longitude 70 degrees 
30 minutes west. Our further progress was stopped by rotten ice 
and cracks. Kennedy Channel appears to expand into the Polar 
Basin; and, satisfied that it is navigable at least during the months 
of July, August, and September, I go hence to my winter harbor, 
to make another trial to get through Smith Sound with my vessel, 
after the ice breaks up this summer. I. I. Hayes. 

"May 19, 1861." 

It must suffice here to state that no further discovery was made, 
and that in the following summer the explorer brought his vessel, 
the "United States," back to the country whose name it bore. Dr. 
Hayes made another voyage in 1869, but on this occasion confined 
his trip to Southern Greenland. 

At the time of Hayes's first voyage north another American 
explorer of note was making his pioneer trip to the Arctic seas. 
This was Charles Francis Hall, a man who from boyhood had made 
the polar regions the goal of his desires. His means were very 
limited, but he succeeded in interesting some friends in his project, 
which at first was confined to a search for relics of the Sir John 
Franklin expedition. Henry Grinnell, the patron of the Kane expe- 
dition, was among those who aided him, and he set out in i860 on 
a voyage which yielded no notable results except the discovery in 
Frobisher Strait of relics of the visit of Martin Frobisher, three 
centuries before. 

A second voyage was made in 1864, it being 1869 before he 
returned to the United States. During this long absence he devoted 
himself to an enthusiastic search for relics of the Franklin party, 
pushing westward as far as King Wllliam^s Land, and finding or 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 205 

obtaining from the Eskimos many articles wliich had belonged to 
Franklin and his men, about one hundred and fifty in all. 

Hall set out on a third voyage in 1871, this time with the 
ambitious purpose of seeking the North Pole. He had the support 
of the government in this expedition, and was instructed to explore 
and survey the passage between Greenland and Grinnell Land and, 
if possible, to reach the Pole. Setting out on June 29, 1871, in a 
steam vessel, the "Polaris,"' with a crew of thirty-three, he had the 
good fortune to carry his ship readily through the seas which had 
baffled Kane and Hayes, sailing past the highest points they had 
reached in sledge journeys and passing through Robeson Channel 
to where it opens into the waters of the Polar Sea. The highest 
point reached was in latitude 82 degrees 16 minutes, about two hun- 
dred miles north of Kane's highest and fifty miles beyond that of 
Hayes. 

It was now the 7th of September, and it was decided to lay up 
for the winter, this being done in a sheltered cove in latitude 87 
degrees 38 minutes, which Hall named Thank God Harbor. While 
preparations for "wintering" were being made. Captain Hall started 
on a sledge- journey, which occupied from October loth to October 
24th. On his return he was suddenly taken sick. At first it was 
supposed to be only a temporary bilious attack, but on the following 
day the symptoms became alarming, and he was frequently delirious. 
His illness continued, and gradually assumed the appearance of 
paralysis. 

Early on the 8th of November, the heroic explorer's adventur- 
ous career was terminated. "Last evening," says Tyson, "the cap- 
tain himself thought he was better, and would soon be around again. 
But it seems he took worse in the night. Captain Buddington came 
and told me he 'thought Captain Hall was dying.' I got up imme- 
diately, and went to the cabin and looked at him. He was quite 
unconscious — knew nothing. He lay on his face, and was breathing 
heavily; his face was hid in the pillow. It was about half-past three 



2o6 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

o'clock in the morning that he died. Assisted in preparing the 
grave, which is nearly half a mile from the ship, inland; but the 
ground was so frozen that it was necessarily very shallow — even 
with picks it was scarcely possible to break it up." 

On the nth he wrote: "At half-past eleven this morning we 
placed all that was mortal of our late commander in the frozen 
ground. Even at that hour of the day it was almost dark, and I 
had to hold a lantern for Mr. Bryan to read the papers. It was a 
gloomy day and well befitting the event. The place also was gloomy 
and desolate in the extreme." 

Thus ended Hall's ambitious project of conquering the secret 
of the North Pole; and thus was quenched the enthusiasm of a 
singularly ardent nature. Though better fitted for a volunteer than 
a leader, to act alone than to govern others, he undertook his work 
with a boundless energy and an untiring perseverance; and had he 
lived, it is certain he would have advanced as far to the northward 
as man is able to go. We cannot but regret so sudden and dis- 
astrous a termination of a chivalrous enterprise. Yet there is some- 
thing appropriate in his place of burial ; and that lonely grave amid 
the peaks and icebergs of the Polar World is surely a more suitable 
sepulchre for such a dauntless explorer than one in the crowded city 
cemetery, or even the village churchyard. On no man was th^, 
strange magical spell of the North more powerfully laid than on 
Charles Francis Hall; and it is well that he should sleep where the 
cold northern winds blow across his grave, and the weird radiance 
of the aurora falls upon it. 

Fortunate as had been the northward passage of the "Polaris," 
through easy channels and open seas, on her return in the summer 
of 1872 the ice demon lay in wait for her and played havoc with the 
gallant ship. Caught in the floes of¥ the southern entrance of Ken- 
nedy Channel, in latitude 80 degrees, the vessel drifted southward 
in the ice to 78 degrees 28 minutes. Here a furious gale assailed' 
Her, the grinding ice crushing in Her strong sides until the crew 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 207 

believed that she was wounded beyond hope and would sink with 
the opening of the floe. 

The only hope seemed to be to take to the ice, and the crew 
began getting out stores, tents, clothing, boats, everything they 
could lay hands on. Nineteen of the ship's company, including two 
Eskimos and their wives and children, scrambled out on the pack, 
while the others passed them the articles as rapidly as possible. 
Through the wind and the cold they worked, clouds of snow driving 
past them and finally thickening until they could barely see. The 
force of the gale in time grew so great that those on the pack 
crouched behind the stores they had rescued, waiting for it to abate. 

As they lay thus, the sound of cracking ice came to them from 
the direction of the ship. Peering through the gloom, a cry of 
despair broke from their lips. The ice had parted in the gale, and 
down the long line of open water that lay before them they saw the 
dark hull of the "Polaris" vanishing in the gloom. She was gone 
— ^probably to sink with all on board. They were left adrift on an 
ice-pack that at any moment might split asunder and drop them into 
the freezing water. Or if held together death from cold and starva- 
tion threatened them. Never had men been in a more terrible 
situation. 

The story of these castaways is a long and distressing one, but 
must here be dealt with briefly. In the morning, when the storm 
had abated and the air was clear, they looked eagerly for some sign 
of the "Polaris." She was visible, but miles away, and as the day 
went on vanished from sight, leaving them stranded on floating ice 
in the Arctic Sea. 

Fortunately for the party, Captain Tyson was with them on the 
floe and at once took charge of affairs. The others included Mr. 
Meyers, the meteorologist, the steward, cook, six seamen, and Joe 
and Hans, two Eskimos, with their wives and children, one of these 
being an infant born on the ship and only two months old. 

The separation from the ship had taken place on October 15th, 



2o8 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

and during the night of the i6th, another disruption of the floe 
occurred, Tyson and his companions finding themselves adrift on 
one part, with one of the two boats, while the other boat and part 
of the provisions remained on the main body of the floe. On the 
2 1st, however, they succeeded in recovering these precious and 
necessary articles; and, afterwards, in removing to a larger and 
firmer floe which lay much nearer the shore. Then they built up 
their snow-houses, forming quite a little encampment: one hut for 
Captain Tyson and Mr. Meyers, a second for the men, others for the 
Eskimos, for Joe, Hannah, and Puney and for Hans and his family ; 
a store-hut for provisions, and a cook-house, — all united by arched 
galleries or corridors made of snow. These were true iglo'es, and 
made in the regular Eskimo fashion. 

Their hope was to get to the shore, where their ammunition 
might provide them with some species of game. On the 30th of 
October the day's allowance for the whole company consisted of two 
pounds of pemmican, six pounds of bread, and four pounds of 
canned meat. On such scanty rations everybody's strength rapidly 
declined; and though the natives continued hunting, no success 
atended their efforts. In fact. It is very difficult to find the seal In 
winter. They live principally under the ice, and can be seen only 
when the ice cracks. Being warm-blooded animals, they cannot long 
continue under the ice without breathing. Consequently, for the 
purposes of respiration, they make air-holes through the ice and 
snow; but at the surface these holes are so small — not more than' 
two and a half inches across — that they are scarcely distinguishable, 
especially in the dim uncertain light of an Arctic winter-day. A 
native will sometimes remain watching a seal-hole for thirty-six or 
forty-eight hours before getting a chance to strike ; and if the first 
stroke misses, the seal is gone for ever. Barbed spears are used by 
the hunter ; and as the seal's skull is exceedingly thin, a well-aimed 
blow Is sure to penetrate, and then the prize can be held securely 
until the hole has been sufficiently enlarged for the body to come 
through. 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 209 

Two seals were captured on the 21st of November, and proved 
a temporary alleviation of the distress of the castaways. All the 
dogs but four had been sacrificed, and everybody was suffering 
pitifully from weakness. The ice-floe, meantime, continued to drift 
to the southward. And so the dreary record continues day by day : 
other seals being occasionally caught, but the situation of the wan- 
derers growing daily more critical and distressing. For eighty- 
three days the sun was lost to sight while the cold was intense. 
Huddling in their snow-houses, with lamps for their only source of 
heat, hope almost abandoned them during those wearisome days. 

Never, perhaps, was the return of the sun more welcomed than 
by the desolate castaways on the floe. But its appearance and the 
commencement of spring was not entirely an unmixed blessing. 
The rising temperature naturally caused the ice to break up, and as 
the floe upon which they were marooned gradually decreased in 
size, fresh anxiety was caused to them by the possible danger of 
their haven being broken up. This was realized on March nth, 
v»^hen their ice raft broke up in a gale, leaving them on a piece less 
than one hundred yards square. Fortunately it was of great thick- 
ness and solidity. 

As March merged into April things grew worse and their 
position more perilous. A violent gale, which continued, with little 
intermission, for several days, reduced the storm-beaten company 
to great distress from the impossibility of capturing any seals. They 
began to suffer the pangs of hunger, and at one time it seemed as if 
death by starvation would be the termination of their miseries. 
Nay, worse results were to be apprehended. "Some of the men," 
wrote Tyson, on the 15th of April, "have dangerous looks; this 
hunger is disturbing their brains. I cannot but fear that they 
contemplate crime. After what we have gone through, I hope this 
company may be preserved from any fatal wrong. We can and we 
must bear what God sends without crime. This party must not 
disgrace humanity by cannibalism." Fortunately a seal was killed 



210 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

on the 1 8th, and this supply came Hke a direct blessing from Heaven 
to recruit their strength. 

Just as it was needed! For at night, on the 20th, a heavy sea 
suddenly arose, and sweeping in violent billows over the ice-floe 
occupied by the castaways, carried off their tent, their skins, most of 
their bed-clothing, — everything, in fact, that was movable, — and 
plunged them into destitution. Only a few articles were saved, 
which they contrived to stow in the boat; the women and children 
were already in it, or the little ones must certainly have perished. 
It required all the efforts of the men to save the boat. They knew 
that their lives depended on its preservation, and this knowledge 
inspired them to exertions which, in their enfeebled condition, were 
almost superhuman. For twelve hours they held on to it, "like grim 
Death;" scarcely a sound was uttered, save and except the crying of 
the children, and Captain Tyson's order to "Hold on," "Bear down," 
"Put on all your weight," and the responsive "Ay, ay, sir," which, 
in this terrible crisis, came readily enough. Discipline was tempo- 
rarily restored under the influence of danger. 

We find them, on the 22d of April, half drowned, half frozen, 
without shelter, and without food! Had the end come? Not yet: 
Heaven again came to their rescue; a bear was sighted, pursued, 
killed, brought back to the "camp" in triumph, and speedily de- 
voured. On the 28th, three young seals fell to the hunters^ rifles, 
and abundance reigned. On the same day they were cheered by the 
appearance of a steamer working her way through the ice to the 
southwest; and though she did not see them, it infused new hope 
into their hearts, as it was a sign and a token that they might now 
expect to be relieved. And, indeed, on the following day another 
steamer was seen. Then volleys were fired; colors were hoisted; 
loud shouts were raised ; but these combined efforts failed to draw 
her attention to the little company on the ice-raft. A third steamer 
afterwards came in sight, but did not bring them deliverance. 

However, it was not far off. On the 30th, a fourth steamer was 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 211 

discovered through the fog, and so near them that Hans leaped into 
his kajak and paddled towards her. Meantime, she perceived Cap- 
tain Tyson's signals, and, to the intense joy of all these storm-beaten, 
wan, attenuated, suffering castaways, bore down upon them. In a 
few minutes she was alongside of their piece of ice. 

"On her approach, and as they slowed down," says Captain 
Tyson, whose words we shall here adopt, 'T took off my old Russian 
cap, which I had worn all winter, and waving it over my head, gave 
them three cheers, in which all the men most heartily joined. It was 
instantly returned by a hundred men, who covered her top-gallant- 
mast, forecastle, and fore-rigging. We then gave three more, and 
a *tiger;' which was appropriate, surely, as she proved to be the 
sealer 'Tigress,' — a barkentine of Conception Bay, Newfoundland." 

They found that in the 196 days they had spent on the floe they 
had drifted over 1500 miles from the latitude in which the "Polaris" 
was beset on October 12th. For the time they believed they were 
the only survivors of the expedition, but in this they were wrong. 
The remainder of the party also escaped, though without under- 
going quite the same hardships as themselves. 

When the "Polaris" broke away from the ice, she did not sink, 
but drifted rapidly before the gale through the open channel. Cap- 
tain Buddington, who had assumed command when Captain Hall 
died, and the twelve men who remained on board, managed to keep 
the disabled vessel afloat, but they could do no more until she again 
becam.2 involved in the ice. By that time all hopes of returning to 
the place where the other men were on the ice was abandoned, and^ 
as the water was fairly open, the efforts of the crew were mainly 
directed to warping the ship towards the coast. By good fortune 
she managed to escape from the crushing packs, and, with tireless 
effort and great care, she was at length brought within sight of land. 
Then she was caught in the ice along the shore and so severely 
nipped that her ruin was complete. She, however, did not sink, and 
her crew were able to reach the land. 



212 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

Selecting a site for an encampment, they; removed thither 
enough timber from the broken-up vessel to construct a house, to 
which they also removed enough stores to last them. When these 
necessaries were secured, they brought more timber ashore, and, 
during the longer winter night, they employed themselves in con- 
structing a couple of boats. It was a laborious task, and but slow 
progress was made until daylight returned. Then they were able 
to carry on the work faster ; but it was the middle of May before 
they had them finished and seaworthy. 

As soon as the ice began to break up, they launched the boats, 
which were fully provisioned from the wreck, and on June 3d they 
sailed away to the south. Three weeks later they sighted a whaler, 
the "Ravenscraig," who took them aboard, and within a few months 
of their comrades, whom they thought had all perished, landing in 
America from the "Tigress," the boat party also landed, having 
saved, in addition to themselves, all the records of the surveys and 
observations made by the expedition. These were of great geo- 
graphical value, making known much of the neighborhood of the 
straits between Greenland and Grant's Land. The expedition, 
although attaining to a high latitude, did not succeed in reaching the 
Pole, but their adventures made a fascinating chapter in the history 
of Polar research. 

There is one more expedition fitted to speak of in this chapter, 
as it bore a certain resemblance to those of Hayes and Hall in char- 
acter. It was an enterprise sent out by the English government in 
1875, under the command of Sir George Nares, its purpose being 
to reach the Pole if possible. It comprised two ships, the "Alert" 
and the "Discovery." 

Pursuing the same course as that of Hall in the "Polaris," they 
reached the high latitude in which the Robeson Channel opens into 
the Polar Sea. Here the "Discovery" wintered, while the "Alert" 
went farther north, taking with her an officer and a sledge team of 
men from the "Discovery," to be sent back overland when winter 
quarters were selected. 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 213 

On the last day of August the "Alert" met a particularly heavy 
floe, the ice forming it being of the massive character which denoted 
that its origin was the Polar Sea. Once the grinding mass of hum- 
mocks, rising higher than the vessel's decks, threatened to enfold 
her. There would have been no hope of escape if they had, and only 
by persistently ramming her way through some of the looser ice did 
she escape in towards the shore. Next day a strong gale sprang up 
from the southwest, and the "Alert" w^ent along at ten miles an hour 
in an open channel between the land and the heavy pack which was 
drifting about three miles out. By midday they reached latitude 
82 degrees 24 minutes north, and the flags were run up to the 
mastheads amid general rejoicing, for it was the farthest point north 
to which a ship had yet sailed. 

With the channel showing clear ahead of them and the spank- 
ing breeze astern, expectation was high on board that they would 
be able to sail right up to latitude 84 degrees, but within an hour 
their hopes were suddenly and thoroughly checked. On hauling to 
the westward they rounded a promontory and found that the land 
trended away to the west. The wind veered round to the northwest 
and drove the ice in upon the channel, which gradually became 
narrower until, when off Cape Sheridan, the main pack was observed 
to be touching the grounded ice and effectually barring all further 
progress. The "Alert" was run close up to the end of the channel, 
and then, when it was certain that there was no chance of getting 
through the barrier, she was anchored to a floe which rested aground 
off the cape. The next day, as the heavy ice of the pack was grind- 
ing against the stranded floe, and an opening just large enough for 
the vessel to get in was observed in the floe, she was warped into 
the basin. 

She was barely inside when a solid hummock crushed against 
the opening, forming a great barrier between the vessel and the 
outer moving pack. Had it struck there a few minutes earlier the 
vessel would have been severely injured by the "nip," but as it was 



214 HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 

the hummock formed an admirable shelter from the pressure of the 
pack. This was often so severe that masses over 30,000 tons in 
weight were broken off and forced up the inclined shore, rising 
twelve and fourteen feet higher out of the water as they crunched 
along the ground. 

With the opening of the next spring a sledging party was sent 
out, taking with it two whale-boats in case open water should be 
reached. There proved no need of these boats, the supposed "open 
polar sea" of Kane and Hayes proving a vast sheet of ice, seemingly 
of such ancient origin that Nares gave it the title of "palseocrystic 
ice." 

As the days went on the toil of dragging the sledges over the 
endless ice field grew intensely wearisome, and although the men 
stuck to their task with true British obstinacy, it began to tell upon 
them. One man fell sick, growing weaker and weaker until he was 
no longer able to pull, and then was unable to walk. One of the 
boats was abandoned, and the sick man laid on a sledge. His con- 
dition was more than disquieting to the leaders, for it was evident 
he was suffering from scurvy, and no one could say who would be 
the next to develop it. 

On April 23d they added only a mile and a quarter to their 
distance, for they had come upon clumps of ice hummocks which 
made their progress so difficult that they had to combine forces to 
haul first one sledge and then another over the obstacles. On April 
28th, when they were seventeen miles from the shore, they found the 
track of a hare in the snow, going towards the land, but with the 
footprints so close together that the animal was evidently very weak. 
Where it had come from, or how it had got so far from the shore, 
were riddles they could not solve. 

As May came in signs of scurvy made themselves only too 
evident among the members of the crew, and on May nth the 
leaders decided that the next day they would have to turn south 
once more. They started with a light sledge in the morning and 



HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 215 

pushed on till noon, when they took their bearings. They had 
reached latitude 83 degrees 20 minutes 26 seconds north, and were 
then only 399^ miles from the Pole itself, having beaten all other 
records of Arctic explorations. 

The return to the ship proved exhausting in the extreme. One 
of the men died and the others were so utterly worn out that hope of ^ 
reaching the ships was almost abandoned. Lieutenant Parr was 
the strongest, yet even he was pitiably weak, and when he volun- 
teered to set out alone for the ship in quest of relief few dreamed 
that he would be able to reach his goal. 

They could scarcely accept the evidence of their ears the next 
morning when the shouts of men's voices came to them in their 
sleeping bags. The gallant Parr had reached the ship, and the bold 
fellows who had conquered the "farthest north" were saved when 
on the brink of death. 

Other surveying parties were sent out and on their return the 
vessels started for home, reaching England without misadventure 
on November 2, 1876, with the proud consciousness of having sur- 
passed Parry's record of 1827 and approached nearer the pole than 
any man had before done. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Nordenskiold and the Northeast Passage 

IN the preceding chapter we have been principally concerned with 
expeditions to the seas north of America, and with polar 

researches by the route lying through Smith Sound. Later 
Arctic ventures have proved that this is the best road to the Pole, 
and as we now know it is the only one by which the Pole has been 
reached. But the course of history leads us to other seas, those 
lying north of Europe and Asia, the seas in which Parry made his 
famous 1827 record of 82 degrees 45 minutes and which became 
the seat of important discoveries in the latter part of the nineteenth 
century. 

Readers of the chapters of polar history so far given will have 
perceived that the main objects of explorations were the discovery 
of a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific north of 
America, and the rescue of the unfortunates who were lost in this 
efifort, especially of the Sir John Franklin party. Those which made 
the discovery of the North Pole their chief object were few in 
number, the most important being the expeditions of Parry, Hayes, 
Hall, and Nares. 

Meanwhile the problem of the Northeast Passage — that from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of the seas north of Europe and 
Asia — remained unsolved. After the long ago Willoughby expedi- 
tion little attention was paid to it until very recent times, when 
Baron Nordenskiold made his famous and successful voyage in that 
direction. We must, however, briefly consider an unsuccessful 
attempt in this field preceding that of Nordenskiold. This was the 
Austrian expedition of 1872 under Lieutenant Payer. 

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NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 217 

This expedition was supported by the enthusiastic approval of 
the whole Austro-Hungarian empire, great results being looked 
for from it. Its commander, Lieutenant Payer, was a seaman of 
proved ability, familiar with the difficulties and dangers of Arctic 
navigation, he having served in a German expedition of some im- 
portance in 1868, and executed a map of its discoveries notable for 
beauty and accuracy. 

It was his intention to round the northeastern point of Nova' 
Zembla and pass eastward to the most northern point of Siberia, 
where he would pitch his winter camp. He hoped in the following 
year to continue the voyage to Bering Strait; while, during the 
spring, sledge-parties would be engaged in exploring the unknown 
coasts of Wrangell Land, and otherwise advancing the bounds of 
geographical discovery in that remote and desolate region. 

As it proved, the season of 1872 was one of exceptional 
severity, and ice was encountered in seas which, under more favor- 
able conditions, were generally free from obstruction. Lieutenant 
Payer, however, bated not one jot of hope, and kept his course to 
the eastward with resolute intrepidity; hoping to reach Cape Che- 
lyuskin, the farthest north Siberian promontory, where he proposed 
to pitch his winter-camp. 

He was baffled, however, as so many had been baffled before 
him, by the forces of the Arctic winter. He was compelled to winter 
among the ice ; using his sledges when opportunity offered, for the 
purpose of exploration, or to obtain fresh provisions. 

Both the summers of 1873 ^^^ 1S74 were spent off the Siberian 
coast; but though many interesting discoveries were made, Lieu- 
tenant Payer did not succeed in effecting a passage through the Icy 
Sea to Bering Strait. This navigation of the Asiatic mainland 
remained to be accomplished. 

In August, 1873, Payer's ship, the "Tegethof," drifted north- 
ward to the highest point yet reached in those eastern seas, land 
being sighted at 79 degrees 43 minutes north latitude, and the drift 



218, NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 

continuing until the eightieth parallel was passed. Here the ice- 
floe in which the vessel had been immovably fixed for fourteen 
months was driven upon an island, by the shore of which the long 
polar winter was passed, the cold becoming so severe that the quick- 
silver in the thermometer remained frozen for weeks, while the 
midwinter darkness was intense. 

Several sledge journeys were made to explore the new land, 
which Payer named Franz Josef Land in honor of the Austrian 
emperor. It lay north of the latitude of Spitzbergen, which it closely 
approached in area. It was a land of desolation, with mountains 
5000 feet in height, the vast cliffs between them being filled witlii 
gigantic glaciers. At latitude 81 degrees 37 minutes the explorers 
reached a territory which they named Crown Prince Rudolf Land, 
the clififs of which were covered with thousands of ducks and auks, 
while seals, bears, hares and foxes abounded. In April, 1874, the 
coast was followed to 81 degrees 57 minutes north, while land was 
visible in the distance which seemed to stretch beyond the eigh'ty- 
third parallel, being the most northern then known upon the globe. 
This region has since been explored by Leigh Smith and others and 
found to consist of an archipelago, composed of numerous islands, 
which are divided into two large masses lying east and west, the 
group extending between 80 and 83 degrees north. In the autumn 
of 1874 the expedition returned home, unsuccessful in its main 
object, but with very important discoveries to its credit. 

The work of Payer was in a sense preliminary to that of Baron 
Nordenskiold in 1878-79, with which we are here principally con- 
cerned. This notable discoverer, Adolf Erik Nordenskiold by name, 
was born at Helsingfors, Finland, in 1832, was educated in his 
native land, and in 1857 became a professor of mineralogy at Stock- 
holm. He, took part at various times in no less than eight Arctic 
expeditions, and was made a baron of Sweden in 1880 after his feat 
of traversing the Northeast Passage. 

The solution of this important geographical problem was the 



NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 219 

result of a carefully devised plan, based on the experience and study 
of its projector, who had devoted years of thought and investigation 
to the enterprise, collecting information from whalers and other 
Arctic navigators as well as employing the results of his own 
voyages. Two of these, made in 1875 and 1876, were to the mouth 
of the Yenisei River, in Western Siberia, the expense being borne 
by merchants and landholders having interests in Siberia, to whom 
a trade-route from Europe to the great Arctic rivers of Asia would 
have been of much advantage. 

The comparative ease with which these two tentative voyages 
were made led Nordenskiold to push on with new vigor and enthu- 
siasm towards the great object of his ambition, and he began eagerly 
to prepare for the great voyage he projected. It involved an expense 
of about $100,000, three-fifths of which sum was provided by Mr. 
Oscar Deikson, of Gothenburg, a merchant who had helped to 
finance his former voyages, and the remainder by King Oscar II, 
in behalf of the government of Sweden. 

With this aid a screw steamer, the "Vega," was provided, built 
expressly for use in the Arctic waters and equipped in the most 
complete manner available for a three years' scientific voyage. The 
total force of the expedition, embracing botanists, zoologists, 
meteorologists and crew, numbered only thirty men. Captain 
Polander, of the Royal Swedish Navy, being second in command 
and the actual captain of the vessel. There were also some officers 
of foreign navies, taken on board at the request of their respective 
governments, among them Lieutenant Bove, of the Italian navy, 
who had been selected to command a projected Antarctic expedition. 
It was a picked company throughout, and in this respect no expedi- 
tion had ever been better equipped. The steamer "Lena" was 
added as a consort to the "Vega" for most of her course, Its goal 
being the Lena River, on which stream it was to be used for trade 
purposes. 

On the 2 1 St of July, 1878, the company of explorers left th'e 



220 NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 

harbor of Trornso, Sweden, and sailed for the Nortli Cape, the most 
northerly point of Europe and the true starting point of the adven- 
turous voyage. Progress was slow on account of adverse winds, 
the ships heading for the island of Nova Zembla. Here it passed 
through the Yuger Schar, the strait that lies between Vaygatz 
Island and the mainland, and entered the great Kara Sea, the vast 
expanse of Arctic waters which lies between the extreme north of 
Nova Zembla and Cape Chelyuskin, the northern point of the conti- 
nent of Asia. At the end of July the several ships of the expedition 
met in Ehabarook, the appointed rendezvous. 

Besides the "Vega" and "Lena" there were two others, the 
"Frazer" and the "Express," which bore cargoes of iron-ware and 
bar iron for the Yenisei River. This they were to ascend and to 
return the same season to Norway. It will suffice to say that this 
was successfully accomplished, these vessels reaching Hammerfest 
in September with full cargoes of tallow, wheat, rye and oats, the 
first shipments ever made by sea from the Yenisei region to the 
European markets. 

Deikson Harbor, near the mouth of the Yenisei, had been 
entered on the ist of August, and the "Vega" and "Lena" lay there 
till the loth, when the voyage was resumed. For two days all went 
well, then great masses of floating ice were encountered and heavy 
fogs made progress slow and dangerous. The fact that the Taimyr 
Peninsula lies farther to the west than had been supposed added to 
their difficulties, small islands being encountered where the charts 
promised open sea. 

On the 19th of August the "Vega" came to anchor off Cape 
Chelyuskin, Asia's northern extremity, a new fact in the history of 
navigation, and one which was duly celebrated by hoisting flags, 
firing salutes, and other demonstrations of triumph. The only party 
to observe these demonstrations was a large white bear, and he 
plainly did not approve of them. The next day the vessels steamed 
onward and in a week more the mouth of the Lena River was 



NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 221 

reached. Here the Httle "Lena" parted company with its consort 
and steamed away up the great Siberian river, reaching Yakutsk, 
its destination, on the 21st of September. 

The region in which they now were, that since known as 
Nordenskiold Sea, is that of the New Siberian Islands, a group 
famous for containing great quantities of mammoth ivory and other 
remains of the mammoths which once evidently were very numer- 
ous in this region. These islands were reached on the 26th. Ice 
was now forming fast and the "Vega" met with much obstruction, 
being detained at North Cape for a week. The opportunity was 
taken to make several land excursions, which led to some interest- 
ing discoveries, among them the finding of ruins of habitations like 
those of the Eskimos, indicating that a similar people had dwelt 
here in the past. 

As the "Vega" went on much trouble and delay were caused by 
fogs and ice, it being the 227th of September before the east side of 
Kolintschin Bay was reached and the anchor dropped. They were 
now in the vicinity of Bering Strait and warm hopes of completing 
their journey before the season ended were entertained, it being 
fully expected that the voyage could be resumed on the next day. 

But nature decided otherwise, the night proved bitterly cold, 
and the floes were frozen so firmly together that on the next day 
the "Vega" found it impossible to break through them. It was 
hoped that the ice would soon break up, but north winds prevailed, 
packing heavy masses along the coast, while the growing chill 
formed new ice with great rapidity. Before November ended all 
chance of escaping vanished and the explorers were forced to admit 
that they were frozen in for the winter. Thus, by what Norden- 
skiold regarded as a most unfortunate accident, their hopeful expec- 
tation of completing the voyage in one season was defeated and 
nature clasped them in her wintry fetters for another year. 

It was certainly unfortunate. Had they reached and left that 
point one day earlier they would undoubtedly have entered the strait 



222 NORDENSKIOLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE 

and reached the Pacific, then Httle more than a hundred miles away, 
and escaped ten months of weary detention. As it was, navigation 
closed more than two weeks before the date at which whaling ships 
were usually able to leave those waters. 

There was nothing, however, to do but submit to the detention, 
which continued until July i8th of the following year. The time 
was spent in making meteorological observations of interest and 
value, in digesting the results of the voyage and in visiting the 
natives, one village of about two hundred Eskimos being in the 
vicinity. They were also sufficiently far south as to have a visit 
from the sun for some time every day. 

On July 1 8th the ice was found to be in motion. The fires were 
once more lighted under the boilers of the vessel and at 3.30 p. m. 
the "Vega^' glided away from her place of imprisonment. Two 
days later the Northeast Passage, for which Willoughby began the 
search 326 years before, was an accomplished fact. Again the 
Swedish flag was raised and a salute was fired. The point had been 
reached at which, as Nordenskiold expressed it, "the Old and the 
New World seem to shake hands." 

The homeward voyage was made by way of Japan, Ceylon and 
the Suez Canal, the successful navigator being received in Europe 
with enthusiastic demonstrations and distinguished marks of honor 
for his signal triumph. 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Horrors of the "Jeannette". Expedition 

DURING the summer of Nordenskiold's return to civilization 
from his fortunate expedition, another, destined to a far 
more unfortunate fate, set out for the same seas, though 
with a different purpose. This was an American expedition, under 
the command of Lieutenant George W. DeLong, of the United 
States Navy, its principal purpose being the discovery of the North 
Pole and the exploration of the Arctic region. A secondary pur- 
pose was to search for Professor Nordenskiold, who had now been 
absent a year, his fate unknown. DeLong's instructions to make 
this search were due to the fact that he proposed to take the Berin'g 
Strait route, near which the Swedish navigator might possibly be 
found. 

This route was chosen from reliance on two theories — ^both of 
which proved unsound. One was that the Japan current made a 
way for its warm waters through the strait and might keep open 
a passage to the pole. The other was that Wrangell Land, in- 
stead of being the small island it has since proved, might be of 
vast, perhaps of continental, area, stretching across the polar space 
and connecting with Greenland. This was the theory entertained 
by Dr. Petermann, an eminent German geographer, the validity of 
which DeLong was to test by following the coast line of this sup- 
posed Arctic continent and making sledge expeditions along the ice 
foot. He proposed to reach Wrangell Land the first season, spend 
the winter there in exploration, and the next season fight his way 
as far north as possible. 

"If the current takes me to the west," he wrote before start- 

(223) 



224 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

ing, "you will hear of me through St. Petersburg; but if it takes 
me eastward and northward, there is no saying what points I may 
reach; but I hope to come out through Smith's or Jones' Sound." 
He further wrote, "It is our intention to attack the Polar regions 
by the way of Bering Straits, and if our efforts are not crowne'd 
with success, we shall have made an attempt in a new direction and 
examined a hitherto unknown country." 

At a later date he thus expressed his intentions: 
"If the season is favorable to an advance northward I shall 
make for Kellett (or Wrangell) Land, and follow along its east 
coast as far as we can go. If everything is all right with Norden- 
skiold, and I hear of it, there will be no necessity for our going to 
St. Lawrence Bay at all. In this case I shall push through Bering 
Strait at once and make for the east side of Kellett Land, following 
it as far as possible, and getting to as high a latitude with the ship 
as we can before getting into winter quarters. If our progress is 
uninterrupted for some distance, I shall content myself with one 
landing, at first on the southeast point of Wrangell or Kellett Land, 
where we will build a cairn and leave a record of our progress to 
date. If our progress is interrupted, we shall no doubt make fre- 
quent landings on Kellett Land, and build several cairns; but, gen- 
erally speaking, I shall endeavor to build cairns and leave records' 
every twe.nty-five nautical miles of our track." 

On the 8th of July, 1879, the "Jeannette," DeLong's ship, 
sailed from San Francisco for the north. It was heavily laden with 
supplies for a long voyage and had thirty-two persons aboard. A 
stop was made at St. Michael's, Alaska, where forty dogs were 
procured, also some Indians who were to act as drivers and hunters. 
Bering Strait was soon afterwards reached, and on the last day 
of August it was learned that the "Vega'" had passed the winter 
in Kolintschin Bay and had sailed thence to the south. In proof 
of this Swedish, Danish and Russian buttons were found in a hut 
on the shore, while papers were recovered written in Swedish and 



HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 225 

having on them the word "Stockhohii." This confirmed the istory 
of the natives, for it was sure that no other Swedish vessel had been 
in that locaUty, and DeLong, this part of his mission fulfilled, headed 
the "J^^^^^^t^" fo^ Wrangell Land. As it proved, the delay of 
the "J^annette" in this search prevented their reaching Wrangell 
Land before the ice-pack closed in upon them, a fact which led to 
disastrous results. On September 6th DeLong made in his journal 
the following entry: 

"I am hoping and praying to get the ship into Herald Island 
(a small island east of Wrangell Land) to make winter quarters. As 
far as the eye can range is ice, and not only does it look as if it never 
had broken up, but it also looks as if it never would. Yesterday, I 
hoped that to-day would make an opening for us into the land; 
to-day I hope that to-morrow will do it. I suppose a gale of wind 
would break up the pack, but the pack might break us up. This 
morning shows some pools of thin ice and water, but as they are 
disconnected and we cannot jump the ship over obstructions; they 
are of no use yet to us." 

On the 8th he again wrote: "I consider it an exceptional state 
of the ice that we are having just now, and count upon the Septem- 
ber gales to break up the pack, and perhaps open leads to Herald 
Island. I want the ship to be in condition to move without delay. 
Besides, I am told that in the latter part of September and early 
part of October there is experienced in these latitudes quite an 
Indian summer, and I shall not begin to expect wintering in the 
pack until this Indian summer is given a chance to liberate us." 

The liberation, as is too well known, was not to come. Yet 
DeLong at this v^ry point did, in the judgment of the Naval Court 
of Inquiry, the best that could be effected. "Either he had to return 
to some port to the southward, and pass the winter there in idleness, 
thus sacrificing all chances of pushing his researches to the north- 
ward until the following summer, or else he must endeavor to force 
the vessel through to Wrangell Island, then erroneously supposed 



226 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

to be a large continent, to winter there, and prosecute his explora- 
tions by sledges. The chances of accomplishing this latter alter- 
native were sufficiently good at the time to justify him in choosing 
it; and indeed, had he done otherwise, he might fairly have 
been thought wanting in the high qualities necessary for an 
explorer." 

His efforts, however, proved in vain. Herald Island could not 
be reached, and till the end of the month the vessel drifted on in 
the pack, held between the floes as in a vise. It was the same 
through the month of October; land was seen from time to time, 
but it could not be reached and the imprisoned vessel and crew 
drifted helplessly on. The "Jeannette" was caught never to escape. 
Land seen on the 28th DeLong believed to be the north side of 
Wrangell Land, but he no longer thought it a continent, writing 
that "it was either one large island or an archipelago." 

A night of great beauty followed the 28th. "The heavens were 
cloudless, the moon very nearly full and shining brightly, and every 
star twinkling ; the air perfectly calm, and not a sound to break the 
spell. The ship and her surroundings made a perfect picture. Stand- 
ing out in bold relief against the blue sky, every rope and spar with a 
thick coat of snow and frost, — she was simply a beautiful spectacle. 
The long lines of wire reaching to the tripod and observatory, round 
frosted lumps here and there where a dog lay asleep ; sleds standing 
on end against the steam-cutter to make a foreground for the ship ; 
•surrounded with a bank (rail high) of snow and ice; and in every 
direction as far as the eye could reach, a confused, irregular ice- 
field — would have made a picture seldom seen." 

During the first half of November the danger increased. Large 
cracks opened in the floe, huge masses of ice were thrown near the 
ship, and she was in imminent peril of being crushed. On the 24th 
she got afloat for the first time for weeks, and in a few days a gale 
set her adrift; but soon the pack closed in and she was frozen fast 
again. 



HORRORS OF THE "JEAN.NETTE" EXPEDITION 227 

Lieutenant Danenhower says: "It was dark, in the long night, 
and there was no chance of working the pack had it been good judg- 
ment to do so. We reckoned that she had drifted at least forty 
miles with the ice in her immediate vicinity. Previous to this time 
the ship had stood the pressure in the most remarkable manner. 
On one occasion, I stood on the deck-house above a sharp tongue 
of ice that pressed the port side just abaft the forechains, and in the 
wake of the immense truss that had been strengthened at Mare 
Island, by the urgent advice of Commodore William H. Shock. The 
fate of the "Jeannette" was then delicately balanced, and when I saw 
the immense tongue break and harmlessly underrun the ship I gave 
heartfelt thanks to Shock's good judgment. She would groan from 
stem to stern; the cabin-doors were often jammed so that we could 
not get out in case of an emergency, and the heavy truss was im- 
bedded three-quarters of an inch into the ceiling. The safety of the 
ship at that time was due entirely to the truss." 

Recording the experiences which have been just named, De 
Long says: "This steady strain on one's mind is fearful. Seem-" 
ingly we are not secure for a moment, and yet we can take no meas- 
ures for our security. A crisis may occur at any moment, and we can 
do nothing but be thankful in the morning that it has not come 
during the night, and at night that it has not come since morning. 
Living over a powder mill, waiting for an explosion, would be a 
similar mode of existence. . . . Sleeping with all my clothes 
on, and starting up anxiously at every snap or crack in the ice out- 
side, or the ship's frame inside, most effectually prevents my get- 
ting a proper kind or amount of rest, and yet I do not see anything 
else in store for me for some time to come." 

Christmas day was passed, drearily enough, and at midnight 
on the 31st all hands were called together on the quarter-deck to 
give three cheers for the New Year and for the "Jeannette." But 
the New Year brought no good fortune in its trail. On the 19th of 
January there was a loud noise, as if the ship's frame was cracking, 



228 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

the pressure of the groanmg and grmdmg floes being immense. 
The ice moved to the eastward, piling up large masses under the 
ship's stern and breaking the fore-foot so that the ship leaked badly. 

Water now began to flow in rapidly, standing three feet deep, 
in the fore-hold, and it was necessary to set the deck pumps at work. 
This was accomplished, after some hours of severe labor, by. the 
indomitable energy of Mr. Melville, the engineer. The steam pump 
made forty strokes a minute, pumping out 2,250 gallons to the 
hour, while by packing with plaster of Paris and ashes the inflow 
was largely decreased. The pumping went on constantly through 
the four following months, and as the decreasing coal stock excited 
apprehension, a windmill pump was arranged by the skill of Melville 
and his assistants which rendered valuable service. 

Meanwhile the ship was drifting about in such a varying way 
that DeLong lost all faith in theories of Arctic currents, thinking 
that the movements of the water were the local creation of the vary- 
ing winds. Lieutenant Danenhower later gave his evidence to the 
same effect : 

'The important point of the drift," he said, "is the fact that 
the ship traversed an immense area of ocean, at times gyrating in 
almost perfect circles, her course and the observations of her officers 
proving that land does not exist in that area, and establishing many 
facts of value as regards the depth and character of the ocean bed 
and its temperatures, animal life, etc." 

During the period in question they added to their food supply 
by killing several large bears and an immense walrus, so heavy that 
thirty of the dogs and four of the men were unable to drag the 
carcass over the rough ice until cut in two. Its weight was esti- 
mated at 2,800 pounds, a valuable prize for dog food. 

As for the drifting ship, her gyrations continued, with the 
discouraging result that observations on the 30th of March placed 
her in almost the same position she had occupied four months be- 
fore, a fact that did not well accord with the theory of polar drift. 



HORRORS OP THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 229 

At the end of May the log was headed "one hundred and ninety 
miles northwest of Herald Island." Thus after nine months of 
floating to and fro in the pack-ice she was less than two hundred 
miles distant from the spot where she had been locked in an icy 
prison in September, 1879. 

Summer was upon her again and strong hopes were now en- 
tertained of breaking loose. A fall of rain on the first of June 
and a rise in the thermometer to '^y degrees gave vitality to their 
hopes, and they looked eagerly forward to a quick escape. Yet the 
summer proved inclement, fogs, snows and gales being almost the 
daily entry in the ship's log. From the crow's nest, at the end of 
the month, the ship was seen to occupy the center of an island of 
ice, which was surrounded by a lane of open water a mile distant. 
But the ice around her continued thick, and during the months pi 
July and August her position remained unchanged, while every 
effort to liberate the screw proved unsuccessful. DeLong's journal 
for August 17th contained the following entry: 

"Our glorious summer is passing away; it is painful beyond 
expression to go round the ice in the morning and see no change 
since the night before, and to look the last thing at night at the 
same thing you saw in the morning. . . . High as our tem- 
perature is (34 degrees), foggy weather a daily occurrence, yet 
here we are hard and fast, with ponds here and there two or three 
feet deep, with an occasional hole through to the sea. Does the ice 
never find an outlet? It has no regular set in any direction north, 
south, east or west, as far as I can judge, but slowly surges in 
obedience to wind pressure, and grinds back again to an equilibrium 
when the pressure ceases. Are there no tides in this ocean? . . . 
Full moon or new moon, last quarter or first quarter, the ice is as 
immovable as a rock. ... It is hard to believe that an im- 
penetrable barrier exists clear up to the Pole, and yet as far as we 
have gone, w^ have not seen one speck of land north of Herald 
Island." 



230 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

"A Frozen Summer, June- August, 1880," such is the signifi- 
cant title of the ninth chapter in Mrs. DeLong's "Voyage of the 
'Jeannette.' " On September ist the ice gave way sufficiently to 
allow the ship to rest on an even keel, but she remained immovably 
locked in the floe, and after sawing through the ice under the fore- 
foot with the hope of setting her afloat, the water came in so freely 
that this work had to be stopped. It was evident that the stern 
was badly broken, and the prospect of keeping the ship afloat if 
open water were reached became very questionable. 

Before the end of September it was evident that the ''Jean- 
nette" could not be freed and preparations were made for spending 
a second winter in the ice. It was necessary to make ready to 
abandon the ship suddenly in case of any disaster, but they pre- 
ferred keeping in its shelter to trusting themselves to the ice, De- 
Long writing that he could "conceive no greater forlorn hope than 
to attempt to reach Siberia over the ice with a winter's cold sap- 
ping one's life at every step." If he had had before him the ex- 
periences of later voyagers, a different fate might have awaited 
him. 

There was no lack in the food supply, several more bears hav- 
ing been shot. And the crew continued in good health with the 
exception of Lieutenant Danenhower, who had been under the sur- 
geon's care for nine months in consequence of a serious trouble 
with his eyes. Otherwise he was well, and scurvy, the bane of 
polar adventure, had not shown itself in any instance. 

The situation was not without its alleviations. DeLong writes 
thus of the beauty of an Arctic night: 

"October i6th. I have heretofore made several attempts to 
describe the beauty of these Arctic winter nights, but have found my 
powers too feeble to do the subject justice. They must be seen to 
be appreciated. It is so hard to make a descriptive picture of moon, 
stars, ice and ship, and unluckily photography cannot come into play 
in this temperature to supply a real picture. Imagine a moon nearly 



HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 231 

full, a cloudless sky, brilliant stars, a pure white waste of snow- 
covered ice, which seems firm and crisp under your feet, a ship 
standing out in bold relief, every rope and thread plainly visible, 
and enormously enlarged by accumulations of fluffy and down-like 
frost feathers; and you have a crude picture of the scene. But to 
fill in and properly understand the situation, one must experience 
the majestic and awful silence which generally prevails on these 
occasions, and causes one to feel how trifling and insignificant he 
is in comparison with such grand works in nature. The brightness 
is wonderful. The reflection of moonlight from bright ice-spots 
makes brilliant efforts, and should a stray piece of tin be near you, 
it seems to have the light of the dazzling gem. A window in the 
deck-house looks like a calcium light when the moonlight strikes 
it at the proper angle, and makes the feeble light from an oil-lamp 
within, seem ridiculous when the ajigle is changed. Standing one 
hundred yards away from the ship one has a scene of the grandest, 
wildest and most awful beauty." 

And the Arctic prisoners succeeded in keeping up their spirits, 
celebrating Christmas and New Year with some of the home en- 
thusiasm, and enjoying the amusements necessary for health in 
the polar solitudes. Yet with all they could do to make the time 
pass cheerily, the monotony was depressing and the coming of 
spring was hailed with gladness. 

May came and with it a hopeful sign. On the i6th of May 
land was sighted, the first they had seen for fourteen long months. 
It was an island, a small one apparently, but as the commander 
wrote: "Fourteen months without anything to look at but ice and 
sky, and twenty months drifting in the pack, will make a little mass 
of volcanic rock like our island as pleasing to the eye as an oasis 
in the desert." 

On the 24th more land was seen, while large lanes of water 
opened in the ice, and on the 31st Engineer Melville with several 
companions set out with a dog team to visit this second island, then 



232 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

fifteen or twenty miles away. They christened it Henrietta Island, 
the first seen having been named Jeannette Island. The journey 
proved a severe and dangerous one, but it was a welcome break in 
their monotonous life. DeLong wrote of it: * Thank God, we 
have at last landed upon a newly-discovered part of this earth, and 
a perilous journey (Melville's) has been accomplished without dis- 
aster. It was a great risk, but it has resulted in some advantage.'' 

The discovery of these islands, in about latitude yy degrees 
north, longitude 158 degrees east, was but a passing moment of 
cheer in their life, the prelude to disasters far greater than they 
had yet experienced, a momentary ringing up of the curtain upon 
a scene of life to let it descend upon a scene of death. The time 
was at hand for the ship to be released from her two winters of 
imprisonment and to enter upon an imprisonment more hopeless 
still, that of the ocean depths. Scarcely had the excursionists re- 
turned from the new-named islands when the ice around the ship 
began to break up into huge masses, leads opening and closing with 
force enough to grind her to powder had she not still remained in 
the center of a small island of ice. This protected her sides, but 
her bottom was continually hammered by ice cakes floating below. 

On Sunday, June 12th, at midnight, the floe in which she lay 
split in a line with her keel, and she suddenly righted, the concus- 
sion sending all hands in alarm to the deck. As the day went on 
the ice began pressing upon her sides, and at 3.40 p. m. it was 
reported as having broken through into the starboard coal bunkers. 
She was keeled over more than 20 degrees to starboard. At four 
o'clock she lay perfectly quiet, but with her bows lifted high into 
the air, sufficiently to show the injury to her forefoot made on 
January 9, 1880. It was evident that she was hopelessly wounded 
and that no effort could keep her afloat when the ice left her free. 

Mr. Melville went on the floe to take a final photograph of the 
hapless "Jeannette," and on his return heard the order given to 
prepare to leave the vessel by taking chronometers, rifles, ammu- 
nition and other articles to the floe. Lieutenant Chipp was sick in 



HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 233 

bed, but was notified to come on deck, and the captain carefully 
supervised the operations, quieting down all haste or consternation 
among the men and moving about the deck in a manner as uncon- 
cerned as if they were in the midst of an ordinary operation. The 
necessary articles, including the personal effects of officers and 
men, were safely landed on the ice, but there was difficulty in getting 
out a barrel of lime-juice, an article necessary to prevent scurvy 
on the proposed march. To rescue it seaman Starr waded into the 
forward store-room at the risk of his life. 

By eleven o'clock that night the situation had grown perilous 
in the extreme. The ship's water-ways had been broken in and 
the iron-work around the smoke-stack buckled up and its rivets 
sheared off, so that it was supported only by the guys. The order 
was now given to leave the ship, three boats being lowered — ^the 
first and second cutters and the first whale-boat — while the ship's 
company of thirty-three landed on the floe, where they encamped 
in six tents. 

Here they were far from safe. Shortly after the watch was 
set and the order given to turn in, and as they were getting into 
their sleeping bags, the ice cracked under Captain DeLong's tent, 
and it became necessary to move the stores and boats to another 
part of the floe. Erickson, one of the captain's party, would have 
gone into the water but for the fact that the Mackintosh blanket 
on the middle of which he was lying was held up by the weight of 
others who lay on its sides. 

At 4 A. M., June 3d, a loud cry came from the watch: "There 
she goes ; hurry up and look ; the last sight you will have of the old 
'Jeannette' !" The ice so far had held together sufficiently to pre- 
vent her sinking. It now opened and down went the gallant ship, 
with her colors flying at the masthead, the ice stripping her yards 
upwards as she sank. A visit on the next morning to the spot where 
she was last seen, showed nothing afloat but a cabin chair, a signal 
chest, and some smaller articles. 

The watery grave of the poor "Jeannette" lay in latitude yy 



234 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

degrees 14 minutes 57 seconds north, longitude 154 degrees 58 
minutes 45 seconds east, in a depth of thirty-eight fathoms. 

Hopeless was now the situation of Captain DeLong and his 
officers and crew, fearful the fate that faced them. At the dread 
distance of three hundred and fifty miles from the Siberian coast, 
with long and toilsome marches over rough hummocks before them, 
and a desolate coast to land upon, and with a subsequent journey 
of over fifteen hundred miles to Yakutsk, the nearest Russian 
city, the outlook was sadly discouraging. Some of the men also 
were sick, suffering from lead poisoning due to the tins of canned 
goods, while Lieutenant Chipp had just risen from a sick bed and 
Danenhower had long been an invalid from the condition of his 
eyes. 

Yet with fortitude and hope they faced the situation before 
them. They had three good boats, had sledges, clothing and am- 
munition, and a large supply of provisions, including nearly five 
thousand pounds of American pemmican in canisters, about fifteen 
hundred pounds of other canned provisions and an equal weight 
of bread, while their guns could be depended upon to bring them 
an occasional supply of fresh meat. 

On June i6th the order was given that a start should be made 
at 6 p. M. on the following day, a night march being decided on to 
avoid blindness from the intense glare of the sunlight on the ice. 
Dinner was to be at midnight, supper at 6 a. m., and sleep during 
the hours of day. The day's delay was made to give the sick a 
chance to recuperate. Before setting out DeLong prepared a rec- 
ord of the loss of the "J^annette" and the southward start, sewing 
it up in a piece of black rubber enclosed within an empty boat breaker 
and trusting it to the waves. It was their purpose, he said, to seek 
to reach the New Siberian Islands and from them make their way 
by boats to the coast of Siberia. 

Yet the work before them was slow and toilsome. Their 
boats and provision sledges had to be drawn over the hummocky 
ice, each officer and man being provided with a harness fashioned 



HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 235 

to go across the chest and one shoulder and attached to the sled by a 
lanyard. It was a terrible strain, through softened snow knee-deep 
and ice rough and full of fissures, over which the boats had to be 
jumped or ferried, while the sledges were dragged over large 
hummocks. 

Taking the first cutter to a point marked by ice-pilot Dunbar, 
they had to return several times for the others, so that it took three 
hours to make the first mile and a half, and in the succeeding days 
a mile or mile and a half a day was the limit. The men had to go 
over the road thirteen times — seven times drawing loads and six 
times empty handed — so that twenty-six miles of travel were neces- 
sary to make an advance of two. And so many of them were 
invalided that twenty-one had to do the work for the whole. 

This was bad enough, but worse was known to the captain 
and kept secret by him. Observations taken at the end of a week 
showed him that the ice drift had more than robbed them of the 
fruits of their labor. They had drifted twenty-seven miles to the 
northwest farther than they had marched to the south! Near the 
end of June the snow melted and traveling grew easier, their thir- 
teen daily journeys over the same ground being reduced to seven. 
But the pools of thaw water kept their feet constantly wet. 

On the nth of July their eyes were gladdened by the sight of 
land in the distance, but the steady ice-drift made their progress so 
slow that it was the 28th before they were able to set foot on it. Its 
shore was so steep that a landing proved hard to make, yet by 7 p. m. 
everybody was on shore, the silk flag was unfurled and possession 
was taken in the name of the President of the United States. The 
island was christened Bennett Island, in honor of Mr. J. G. Bennett, 
the patron of the expedition. 

The ship's company encamped here for several days, glad of a 
period of rest and a change of diet, sea-birds being numerous on 
the small volcanic island and easily caught. But a surfeit of bird 
meat brought on sickness and they soon had to go back to pern- 



236 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 

mican. They left the island on August 6th and on the 20th reached 
Thaddeus Island, one of the New Siberian group, among which 
they were imprisoned by the ice for nearly ten days. 

Navigable water was found at the end of this time and the 
party distributed themselves among the three boats. Captain De- 
Long taking command of the first cutter. Lieutenant Chipp of the 
second, and Engineer Melville of the whale boat. The second 
cutter was a bad sea-boat and had little room for provisions, the 
first cutter having the greatest capacity of the three and being an 
excellent sea-boat. The whale boat was also well built and strong. 

Onward with hope the castaways now went, knowing that the 
coast of Asia was not far distant. On the loth of September it 
came in sight, about twenty miles away, and on the nth a landing 
was made on the small Semenovski Island and hunting parties sent 
out. An old hut was found there and footprints made by a white 
man's boot — a very encouraging indication. 

But their good fortune was quickly at an end. Leaving the 
island on the 12th, they soon found themselves in the clasp of a gale, 
which grew so severe as to set all hands in the whale-boat to pump- 
ing and baling out water. The boats kept close together until about 
7 p. M.^ when the gale increased in force and they were separated, 
never to meet again. Their destiny differed. The first cutter 
reached land, but only to leave its party to the sad fate of death by 
cold and starvation. The second cutter vanished, leaving no record 
of its fate, it having probably swamped in the stormy sea. Those 
in the whale-boat alone escaped death, reaching shore by the suc- 
cessful use of a drag or sea-anchor and keeping the boat afloat until 
land was reached by incessant baling. 

We shall end here this chapter of the adventures of the hapless 
ship's company of the "Jeannette," leaving the record of the adven- 
tures of those who reached shore for the following chapter, in which 
the story of the escape of Melville and his boat's crew will be 
described, with his subsequent search for the fated DeLong and his 
companions. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Melville Finds the Remains of the DeLong Party 

WE have followed the unfortunate ship's company of the 
"Jeannette" from their start at San Francisco to the time 
they were frozen in the pack ice off Herald Island; thence 
through their long and wearisome drift in this sea of ice for two 
winters and one summer until the crushed and hopelessly wounded 
"Jeannette" sank in the Arctic sea ; followed by their brave and dis- 
heartening journey over the ice to the far-off Siberian coast. Off 
this coast, as has been stated, the three boats containing the hapless 
wanderers parted in a gale and never came together again. Of 
their inmates, only those of the whale-boat, commanded by Engineer 
Melville, survived the perils of sea and shore, death claiming as 
victims, with two exceptions, all those on the other boats. It is our 
purpose here, therefore, to follow the fortunes of Melville and his 
comrades and tell the story of their return to safety and of their 
subsequent search through the Siberian wilds for their lost com- 
panions. 

George Wallace Melville bears a record worthy of some brief 
mention before we describe this crucial portion of his career. Born 
in New York City in 1841, he was educated in the Brooklyn Poly- 
technic School and entered the naval service of the United States in 
1 86 1 as third assistant engineer. As such he took an active part 
in the work of the navy during the Civil War, frequently volunteer- 
ing for dangerous and desperate service. He became chief engineer 
in 1 88 1, and as such aided greatly in the building up of the new 
United States Navy, in which he became engineer-in-chief in 1887. 
He was given the rank of rear admiral in 1899. 

(237) 



238 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

Mr. Melville strongly interested himself in polar research and 
has taken part in three separate expeditions to the Arctic seas. Of 
these the most important is that in connection with the "Jeannette" 
enterprise, which he joined as engineer. His heroic conduct in this 
unlucky voyage was fully recognized in this country and was 
rewarded by Congress in a special act in 1890, by which he was 
advanced one grade in the service. It is the detail of this part of 
his career with which we are here concerned. 

Melville's comrades in the whale-boat cruise were nine in 
number, comprising Lieutenant Danenhower and eight of the crew, 
among the latter being the Chinese steward and one of the Alaska 
Indians, named Aneguin. The whale-boat was twenty-five feet four 
inches long and strongly put together. Like the cutters, it was 
clinker-built, copper-fastened, and with inside lining. And like the 
others, its draught was deep, this being due to the heavy oak keel 
pieces put upon the boats to strengthen them for the wearing work 
of hauling over the ice. 

The severe gale which had separated the boats off the Siberian 
coast gave exhausting labor to Engineer Melville's crew, who were 
kept busy pumping or baling out the water which poured in from 
the combing waves. The pocket prismatic compass they had was 
here of no avail, and they had to steer by the sun or moon, in which 
work the professional skill of Lieutenant Danenhower, still on the 
sick list, was of great service. He carried the chronometer and 
chart and could lay the proper course of the boat very closely by the 
bearings of the sun. By this means he was fortunate in bringing 
the wave-tossed craft safely to land at one of the eastern mouths of 
the Lena River on September 15th, three days after they had left 
Semenovski Island. 

Favoring fortune had brought them ashore in an inhabited 
region, the river was still open, and a Tungus Indian whom they 
met and engaged as pilot took them in safety up its course for the 
following eleven days, at the end of which a village was reached. 



MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 239 

Here they found several Russian exiles, who took great interest in 
the arrival of the castaways, the coming of whom was a welcome 
break in the dreary monotony of their existence. One of them, 
Kopelloff by name, served them a good turn by teaching Lieutenant 
Danenhower a number of Russian phrases, likely to prove very 
useful in their later intercourse with the Siberian officials. 

The young ice was now forming in the river, rendering further 
progress by the boat unavailable, and they were detained until it 
should be thick enough for sledding. But tidings of their arrival 
were sent ahead, another of the exiles, Koosmah Gernymahofif, with 
the chief of the village, going forward to Bulem, the most northern 
Russian station in Siberia, to acquaint the authorities there with 
the fact. 

On the 17th of October Danenhower set out with a dog team 
on a search for the two other boats, but the surface conditions 
proved unfavorable for the work, and he was unable to proceed far 
in any direction. The young ice which covered the broad-channel 
lower river was too thick to permit the passage of boats and too 
weak to bear sledges, and ignorance of the language of the natives 
prevented any useful intercourse, so that they were unable to learn 
the resources of the vicinity as to reindeer or dog teams. 

The messengers who had been sent south to Bulem returned 
on the 29th with the report that they had met natives with deer 
sleds, these bringing with them two rescued seamen of De Long's 
party, Nindemann and Noros, whom they were taking to Bulem.' 
They brought also a note given them by these sailors in which it 
was stated that the captain^s party had reached land, but were 
starving and in need of immediate assistance. 

This news, communicated by Koosmah to Engineer Melville, 
roused him to the most earnest endeavors, active efforts being at 
once made to reach and rescue Captain DeLong's party. Danen- 
hower was left in charge of the whale-boat crew with orders to 
conduct them as soon as possible to Bulem, while Melville set out 



240 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

with a native guide and a dog team in search of the castaways. On 
November ist he received from the commandant at Bulem a good 
supply of bread, deer-meat and tea, and also a paper written by the 
two rescued seamen and addressed to the American Minister at St. 
Petersburg. These were forwarded by the lieutenant to Melville, 
and he quickly followed his messenger, overtaking Melville at the 
first deer station. 

We may finish here the story of Lieutenant Danenhower, who 
was now directed by Melville to proceed to Yakutsk, twelve hundred 
miles away. This place he reached on December 17th, and received 
there three despatches from the Secretary of the Navy. In return 
he advised the Secretary of the state of affairs and requested per- 
mission to search for Lieutenant Chipp's party. This permission 
was granted, but was afterwards revoked on account of the condi- 
tion of his health, and he was directed to return to the United States. 
He reached there in February, 1882. 

Before proceeding with the account of Melville's search, the 
story of Nindemann and Noros, as related to him by them, must be 
told. On the 9th of October DeLong had sent them out in advance, 
saying to Nindemann: *T think you have to go only twelve npiiles 
to a settlement called Kumarksurka, and you and Noros can find it 
in three days, or, at the longest, four. Do the best you can ; if you 
find assistance come back as quick as possible; and if you do not, 
you are as well off as we are." 

Starting off with a cheer from their comrades and a copy of the 
captain's chart, the two men pushed forward with all possible speed. 
On the first day they dined on a ptarmigan, killed by them; on the 
second their food consisted of a bootsole soaked in water and burned 
to a crust, with tea made from the Arctic willow. The remaining* 
bootsole served them on the nth, but on the 12th they were more 
fortunate, for, while gathering some drift-wood, Noros found 
beneath it two fishes and Nindemann caught a lemming. During 
the next eight days they had little to eat beyond portions of a pair 



MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 241 

of sealskin pants, soaked and burned to a crust, but on the 20th they 
found in a hut fishes enough to keep them ahve for several days. 
But their diet had induced dysentery, from which they were growing- 
very weak. 

While resting in an abandoned hut on the 22d they had the 
good fortune, looking through a crack in the hut, to see a native, to 
whom they lost no time in making their presence known. The 
native, whose sympathy was aroused by their condition, brought 
some others that evening, and putting the exhausted and half- 
starved men on their deer sleds, they drove with them to their tents, 
which were reached at midnight. Here they were given food. 
Their rescuers proceeded with them the next day until they fortu- 
nately met a Russian, to whom they succeeded in making known 
their situation and the fact that they wished to be taken to Bulem. 
They reached the place on the 29th. 

On the 3d of November the two men heard the door of their 
hut in Bulem opened and to their glad ears came a familiar voice 
speaking American words. It was Engineer Melville, who ex- 
claimed, "Noros, are you alive?" 

The meeting was a joyful one, and the rescued seamen eagerly 
told their story, Melville making a chart of the route described by 
them and marking on it the location of the huts they had found, as 
a guide in his intended immediate search for DeLong and his party. 
The privations of the two men, however, gave him gloomy anticipa- 
tions as to the fate of those they had left, the seamen themselves 
being very sick from exhaustion and the dysentery caused by their 
eating decayed fish. The very great probability was that those left 
behind had perished. 

On November 5th Melville set out on his search of the Lena 
delta, taking two dog teams, two natives and a ten days' supply of 
food, and following the route he had charted from the account of 
the two seamen. He had no difficulty in finding the route, some of 
the huts described by them being reached, while from several native 



242 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

hunters he received some of the records left by Captain DeLong. ' 
These records indicated where he should look for the log-books, 
chronometers and other articles that had been abandoned, and these 
he quickly found in a cache erected on the ocean shore, its location 
marked by a tall fiagstafif. 

For three weeks afterwards the search was diligently con- 
tinued, not without much suffering on the part of the searching 
party, the weather being very severe, but no traces of the lost men 
were found. The natives knew nothing of them, and it became 
certain that they had ceased to live, in view of the fact that their 
food supply had been practically exhausted when the two seamen 
left them. Further search, with the hope of finding any of them 
alive, was plainly useless. That they had all perished was beyond 
doubt, and Melville sadly returned, having done all that it was 
possible to do in the wintry conditions then prevailing. 

He brought the relics he had found to Bulem, and from there 
proceeded with them to Yakutsk, the nearest place where the sup- 
plies needed and the requisite orders from the Russian authorities to 
its subordinates could be procured. The logs and papers were placed 
in charge of Lieutenant Danenhower, to be taken to the United 
States, and under orders telegraphed from the Navy Department 
Melville prepared for a search for the remains of his late com- 
panions. 

Setting out again in the midwinter season, he proceeded north, 
and, accompanied by seamen Nindemann and Bartlett, the latter? 
having picked up some knowledge of Russian speech, he resumed 
his search. It was March i6th when he first came upon the track 
of his lost companions. On that date he found the hut in which 
they had slept before crossing the river. On the 23d he reached the 
location of their sad death. 

The resting place of the unfortunate voyagers was indicated 
by four poles lashed together and projecting from the deep snow 
drift, while the muzzle of a Remington rifle stood eight inches above 



FAC-SIMILE OF LAST PAGE OF JOURNAL OF LIEUTENANT- 
COMMANDER GEO. W. DeLONG 

[From DeLong's "Voyage of the Jeannette," Houghton-Mifflin Co.] 

In the six days covered by this historic and awe-inspiring document, which 
was found by Melville, the deaths of four men are recorded. Another was dying, 
and but three remained. DeLong, Dr. Ambler and Ah Sam were found dead a 
thousand yards from the rest of the bodies. The laconic manuscript record of this 
very extremity of terrible suffering gives only a faint idea of the frightful privations 
which these men endured. Not less impressive is the fact that the commander of 
the expedition faithfully recorded the performance of his work untU, perhaps, only 
a few hours before he himself, too, was frozen into an endless sleep. Nothing can 
more vividly exemplify the courage of the men who have braved the awful perils 
of the Polar regions than such an insight as this page gives. More than five hun- 
dred Arctic expeditions have been made. All have endured discomfort, most acute 
suffering, and many have laid down their lives in efforts to reveal to the world the 
mystery and terrors of the Polar ice. 



244 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

the snow, its strap hitched over the poles. A few hundred yards 
further on he came upon the remains so long sought, the dead bodies 
of Captain DeLong and Surgeon Ambler. With them was that of 
Ah Sam, the Chinese cook. By the side of DeLong lay his note- 
book with the last feebly indicated words he had been able to write, 
while under the poles were found the books and records which he 
had carried with him to his sad end. The bodies of the others were 
also found, with the exception of those of Erickson, one of the 
seamen, and Alexai, an Indian, which were sought for in vain. 
The journal afterwards showed that they had died and been buried 
in the river. 

The natives who accompanied Melville could with difficulty be 
induced to aid in getting the bodies out of the snow. It was neces- 
sary to pry them up with sticks of wood, as they were frozen to the 
ground. One arm of Captain DeLong had been seen lifted above 
the snow, but his body was covered. 

After digging in the snow and finding a few small objects and 
taking from the bodies all articles found upon them — except a small 
bronze crucifix found upon the person of Mr. Collins, which Mel- 
villed ordered to be buried with him — the preparations for return 
were made. All the bodies were carried over the mountain to the 
southward of Mat-Vai, where a tomb was dug on a high blufif, and 
the bodies reverently interred. They were laid side by side in 
regular order, as their names had been written on the vertical shaft 
of a cross erected over the tomb. 

The tomb was covered with seven-inch plank and a pyramid of 
large stones built over It, arrangements being subsequently made to 
have it covered with a deep layer of earth to prevent the possibility 
of the sun thawing the bodies below. Above this pyramid rose the 
cross, twenty-two feet high and with an arm twelve feet in length. 
Standing, as the cairn and cross did, on an eminence, they formed 
conspicuous objects, which could be seen at a distance of twenty 
miles. On the cross was the following inscription: 



MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 245 

"In memory of twelve of the officers and men of the Arctic 
steamer "Jeannette," who died of starvation in the Lena Delta, Oc- 
tober, 1881 — Lieutenant G. W. DeLong, Dr. J. M. Ambler, J. J. 
Collins, W. Lee, A. Gortz, A. Dressier, H. H. Erickson. G. W. 
Boyd, N. Iverson, H. H. Kaack, Alexai, Ah Sam." 

Melville made a subsequent search for the party of the second 
cutter, commanded by Lieutenant Chipp, but not a trace of them 
could be discovered, though the search was very thorough. And 
though the first cutter was found, frozen in the ice and badly stove, 
there was no trace of Chipp's boat. At a later date other searching 
parties were sent out, but with like negative result, and it became 
evident that the second cutter had gone down in the gale, with all 
on board. It may further be stated that the bodies of DeLong and 
his men were subsequently taken from their lonely tomb in the 
Siberian walds and brought to the United States, where they were 
reinterred with reverent and appropriate ceremonies. 

This story of the fate of the "Jeannette" and of Captain DeLong 
and most of his officers and crew can justly be completed only by 
suitable extracts from the captain's journal, in which the details of 
their sufiferings and wanderings are given. Our extracts begin 
with their losing sight of the whale-boat, as follows : 

"At 9 p. M. September 12th, lost sight of whale-boat ahead; at 
10 P.M. lost sight of second cutter astern; w^ind freshening to a gale. 
Step of mast carried away; lowered sail and rode to sea anchor; 
very heavy sea, and hard squalls. Barometer falling rapidly. 

"13th, very heavy northeast gale . . . At 8 p. m. set a 
jury sail made of a sled cover, and kept the boat away to the west- 
ward before the sea; — 17th, grounded at a few hundred yards, 
landed at 8 p. m. ; dark and snow storm, but Collins had a good fire 
going; at 10.20 had landed everything, except boat oars, mast, sled, 
and alcohol breakers; — i8th, had fires going all the time to dry our 
clothes, we must look our situation in the face, and prepare to walk 
to a settlement. 



246 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

"September 19th, ordered preparations to be made for leaving 
this place, and as a beginning, all sleeping bags are to be left behind. 
Left in instrument box a record, portions of which read thus : 

"Lena Delta_, September 19, 1881. 

"Landed here on the evening of the 17th, and will proceed this 
afternoon to try and reach, with God's help, a settlement, the nearest 
of which I believe is ninety-five miles distant. We are all well, have 
four days' provisions, arms and ammunition, and are carrying with 
us only ship's books and papers, with blankets, tents, and some 
medicines, therefore our chances of getting through seem good. 
. . . At 2.45 went ahead, and at 4.30 stopped and camped. Loads 
too heavy — men used up — Lee groaning and complaining, Erickson, 
Boyd, and Sam, hobbling. Three rests of fifteen minutes each of 
no use. Road bad. Breaking through thin crust; occasionally up 
to the knees. Sent Nindemann back with Alexai and Dressier to 
deposit log-books. . . . Every one of us seems to have lost all 
feeling in his toes, and some of us even half way up the feet. That 
terrible week in the boat has done us great injury; opened our last 
can of pemmican, and so cut it that it must suffice for four days' 
food, then we are at the end of our provisions and must eat the dog 
(the last of the forty) unless Providence sends something in our 

way. When the dog is eaten ? I was much impressed and 

derive great encouragement from an accident of last Sunday. Our 
Bible got soaking wet, and I had to read the Epistle and Gospel 
from my prayer-book. According to my rough calculation it must 
have been the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, and the Gospel con- 
tained some promises which seemed peculiarly adapted to our con- 
dition. (The passage is in Matthew v. 24.) 

"September 21st, at 3.30, came to a bend in the river making 
south, and to our surprise two huts, one seemingly new. At 9 p. m. 
a knock outside the hut was heard and Alexai said, 'Captain, we 
have got two reindeer,' and in he came bearing a hind quarter of 
meat. September 24th,, commenced preparations for departure from 



MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 247 

the hut at seven o'clock. . . . At 10 p. m. made a rough bed 
of a few logs! wrapped our blankets around us and sought a sleep 
that did not come; 27th, made tea at daylight, and at 5.05 had our 
breakfast — four-fourteenths of a pound of pemmican. ... At 
9.45 five men arrived in camp, bringing a fine buck. Saved again ! ! 
September 30th, one hundred and tenth day from leaving the ship, 
Erickson is no better, and it is a foregone conclusion that he must 
lose four of the toes of his right foot, and one of his left. The 
doctor commenced slicing away the flesh after breakfast, fortu- 
nately without pain to the patient, for the forward part of the foot 
is dead : but it was a heart-rending sight to me, the cutting away of 
bones and flesh of a man whom I hoped to return sound and whole 
to his friends. October ist, the doctor resumed the cutting of poor 
Erickson's toes this morning, only one toe left now. And where are 
we? I think at the beginning of the Lena River at last. My chart 
is simply useless. Left a record in the hut that we are proceeding 
to cross to the west side to reach some settlement on the Lena River. 
''October 3d, nothing remains but the dog. I therefore ordered 
him killed and dressed by Iverson, and soon after a kind of stew 
made of such parts as could not be carried, of which everybody,, 
except the doctor and myself, eagerly partook, to us it was a nauseat- 
ing mess. . . . Erickson soon became delirious, and his talking 
was a horrible accompaniment to the wretchedness of our surround- 
ings. During the night got his gloves off; his hands were frozen. 
At 8 A. M. got Erickson (quite unconscious) and lashed on the sled 
under the cover of a hut, made a fire and got warm. . . . Half 
a pound of dog was fried for each one, and a cup of tea given, and 
that constituted our day's food. At 8.45 a. m., our messmate, Erick- 
son, departed this life. October 6th, as to burying him, I cannot 
dig a grave, the ground is frozen, and I have nothing to dig with. 
There is nothing to do but to bury him in the river. Sewed him up 
in the flaps of the tent, and covered him with my flag. Got tea 
ready, and with one-half ounce alcohol, we will try to make out to 



248 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 

bury him. But we are all so weak that I do not see how we are 
going to move. 

"At 12.40 p. M. read the burial service, and carried our de- 
parted shipmate's body down to the river, where, a hole having been 
cut in the ice, he was buried ; three volleys from our two Remingtons 
being fired over him as a funeral honor. 

"A board was prepared with this cut on it : 

In Memory, 

H. H. EricksoNj 

October 6, 1881. 

U. S. S. Jeannette. 

And this will be stuck in the river bank abreast his grave. His 
clothing was divided up among his messmates. Iverson has his 
Bible and a lock of his hair. Kaack has a lock of his hair. . . . 
Supper, 5 p. M., half pound of dog meat and tea. October 9th, sent 
Nindemann and Noros ahead for relief; they carry their blankets, 
one rifle, forty pounds ammunition, two ounces alcohol. . . . 
Under way again at 10.30, had for dinner one ounce of alcohol; 
Alexai shot three ptarmigan. Find canoe; lay our heads on it and 
go to sleep. 

"loth, eat deer-skin scraps. . . . Ahead again till eleven. 
At three halted, used up. Crawled into a hole on the bank. Noth- 
ing for supper, except a spoonful of glycerine. 17th, Alexai died, 
covered him with ensign, and laid him in a crib. 21st, one hundred 
and thirty-first day, Kaack was found dead at midnight. Too weak 
to carry the bodies out on the ice ; the doctor, Collins, and I carried 
them around the corner out of sight. Then my eye closed up. Sun- 
day, October 23d, one hundred and thirty-third day — everybody 
pretty weak — slept or rested all day, managed to get enough wood 
in before dark. Read part of divine service. Suffering in our feet. 
No foot gear. 



MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 249 

"Monday, October 24th, one hundred and thirty-fourth day. 
A hard night. 

"Tuesday, October 25th, one hundred and thirty-fifth day. No 
record. 

"Wednesday, October 26th, one liundred and thirty-sixth day. 
No record. 

"Thursday, October 27th, one hundred and thirty-seventh day. 
Iverson broke down. 

"Friday, October 28th, one hundred and thirty-eighth day. 
Iverson died during early morning. 

"Saturday, October 29th, one hundred and thirty-ninth day. 
Dressier died during the night. 

"Sunday, October 30th, one hundred and fortieth day. Boyd 
and Gortz died during the night. Mr. ColHns dying.'^ 

With this entry of death the doleful record closes. The cap- 
tain, surgeon, and the last one of the crew must have quickly fol- 
lowed their comrades to the grave. Thus ends this saddest of all 
Arctic journals. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Greely's Arctic Winter of Starvation 

AMONG the many disasters to which Arctic expeditions have 
been exposed, there have been three instances of extraordi- 
nary misfortune and suffering, three cases in which starva- 
tion and death claimed victims in numbers, the three most terrible 
visitations of calamity in all Arctic history. With two of these, the 
frightful misfortunes of the Franklin and the De Long expeditions, 
we have dealt. The third remains to be described, thdt of the heroic 
Greely, in its way one of the worst of the three, since its record of 
starvation extended through a whole winter, to close with death for 
most of the party in the end and a sensational rescue of the few 
survivors when they had gone through all the horrors of death. 
The narration of this record of disaster and suffering is given in 
the present chapter. 

The origin of the Greely expedition was the following: An 
international conference had decided on a plan to establish a chain 
of stations around the border of the Arctic Circle for the purpose 
of exploring, of collecting specimens in natural history, and of 
taking meteorological, magnetic and other observations for the 
benefit of science. Of these stations the United States established 
two, one in Alaska and one in Grinnell Land. It is the latter with 
which we are concerned. 

Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, of the United States Army, 
was chosen as the leader of the Grinnell Land expedition, which 
consisted of four officers and twenty-one men, and left New York 
in the early summer of 1881 in the "Proteus," a steamer chartered 
for the purpose. Congress had voted $25,000 for the expenses of 

(250) 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 251 

the expedition, which was to proceed to Lady FrankUn Bay, on the 
shores of Grinnell Land, and from there send out exploring parties, 
by dog sledge and steam launch, as far north as possible. A ship 
was to be sent each year with supplies, and if these should fail to 
reach him, Greely was instructed to begin a retreat not later than 
September i, 1883. 

The expedition left St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 7th of 
July, stops being made at various points on the Greenland coast to 
obtain dogs and complete the preparations for a long sojourn in a 
land of desolation. At Upernavik a number of dogs were obtained, 
and two Eskimos, Jens and Frederick, were taken on board as 
drivers. The season was unusually mild, and they were able to 
make excellent progress through the unimpeded water. On the way 
they stopped at Gary Islands and examined the records left there 
by Sir George Nares in 1875, and which had been examined once 
before by Sir Allen Young, in 1876. The sea was full of white 
wales, narwhals, and grampus. The latter has the reputation of 
being a voracious feeder, one authority stating that a dead grampus 
had been found, choked by a seal he had attempted to swallow, 
although, when he was opened, his stomach was found to contain 
no fewer than thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals. 

On August 4th the "Proteus," for the first time during the 
voyage, was stopped by the ice. Being built specially for navigating 
the ice-covered seas, she was very powerful in the bows, which wei*e 
further embellished by a strong iron prow. Thus she was able to 
force her way through the ice which would have been impassable 
to a lighter craft. Her method, when she was faced by moderately 
thin ice which was yet thick enough to stop her ordinary progress, 
was to steam astern for a couple of hundred yards and then rush 
full speed at the ice. The strength of the iron prow and the force 
of her powerful engines drove her into the floe, but the operation 
was one that required great care. As she approached the floe, the 
crew, running from one side of the deck to the other, caused her to 



252 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

roll as she struck, the engines being reversed directly her prow 
penetrated the ice, so as to prevent her w^edging herself in. This 
exciting operation was repeated several times when she met the floe 
in Lady Franklin Bay, and only by its means was she able to ram 
her way through and reach the destination of the expedition. 

A site for landing was selected on the north of Discovery Bay, 
where the "Discovery," of the Nares expedition, had wintered in 
1876. Proceeding a little distance from the spot where the "Dis- 
covery" winter quarters had been erected, a suitable situation was 
marked o^it for "Fort Conger," which was to form the base of the 
operations pending the time when the relief ship was due to take 
the expedition home again. 

During the following week every one was hard at work erect- 
ing the frame house which was to form their home during the next 
two years, unloading stores and other articles belonging to the 
expedition, arranging the heavy casks and cases of imperishable 
provisions near the house, and exploring and hunting over the sur- 
rounding country. 

On August 1 8th, all the stores belonging to the party were 
landed from the "Proteus," and that vessel got up steam and bade 
farewell. The men of the party worked with such a will that they 
had their house built, the recording instruments erected in proper 
localities, the provisions stacked, and everything in order sufficiently 
early to permit them to carry out some surveys while the weather 
was yet mild enough for sledge traveling. Attention was also given 
to obtaining as much game as possible, and by the time that the 
temperature was cold enough to warrant their going into winter; 
quarters, they had obtained for their larder twenty-six musk oxen 
and ten ducks, besides hare, seal, and ptarmigan, in all 6,000 pounds 
of fresh meat for their own food, and an equal amount for the dogs. 

In the middle of September they were visited by a large pack of 
wolves. These were first discovered prowling over the ice on the 
harbor in front of the encampment, and, fearing the loss of some 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 253 

of the dogs, as well as provisions, a hunting party went out to shoot 
them. But the wolves were too cunning, keeping out of range until 
the men were tired out. They were frequently fired at, but none 
fell, although this might not have been due to bad marksmanship. 
The Arctic wolves, as was discovered later, are perhaps the most' 
tenacious of life of any of the northern animals. 

One was seen, a day or so later, within a hundred yards of the 
house. It was immediately fired at, and rolled over with a bullet 
through the body ; but before the marksman could get over to v/here 
it lay, the apparently dead creature scrambled to its feet and made 
off, bleeding profusely. The trail left by the blood was distinctly 
visible on the snow, although the wolf itself, being covered with 
pure white fur, was quite invisible. For over an hour the trail was 
followed, and when at last the dead body was found, it lay prac- 
tically bloodless, having struggled on while there was a drop of 
blood in its veins. 

In view of the difiiculty of shooting them, the men resolved to 
poison them. But here, again, the wolves were not to be caught. 
The first time that poisoned meat was put out it was left untouched. 
Some good meat was added, and at once disappeared, though the 
pieces containing poison were still left alone. The poisoned baits 
were then taken up, and only good meat put down, the wolves always 
taking it until, their confidence being gained, a few poisoned baits 
were mixed with the others. The experiment succeeded so well that 
when the baits were next visited four wolves and one fox were 
found dead. The others, evidently alarmed, made off and did not 
again return. 

Winter passed away in the drear and monotonous way that 
winter in the Arctic does and with the coming of spring the work 
of exploration began. The growing power of the sun as the months 
passed on is described in striking terms in the records of the expedi- 
tion. An exploring party led by Greely himself found decidedly 
wintry conditions late in April. A large river was reached covered 



254 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

with thick ice and leading to an enormous glacier five miles wide 
and 175 feet high, completely blocking up the valley. Everywhere 
the ground was covered with ice and snow, with no signs of life and 
no sound other than an occasional gurgle of running water under 
the river ice. 

When, early in July, the valley was again visited an extraordi- 
nary difference in conditions was observed. They might have doubted 
the existence of what they had seen before but for the sparkling 
glacier. The river now flowed along, glittering in the bright sun- 
light, between banks covered with flowering plants. Bright yellow 
poppies gleamed all over the verdure-clad slopes, with sturdy heath 
blooms, daisies, and other blossoms mingling, and over them were 
flitting innumerable white and yellow butterflies. Bumble-bees 
droned, and flies, as well as the familiar daddy-long-legs, were 
everywhere present, and also their arch-enemies, the spiders. 
Ptarmigan, their white plumage somewhat speckled with dark 
feathers, plovers, and birds of smaller size, were seen on the wing; 
while over the verdant sides of the valley and along the banks of 
the river, large herds of musk oxen were browsing, with calves fol- 
lowing the cows. The sky was brilliantly blue and almost free from 
clouds. In the face of so much that was beautiful and full of life, 
it was difficult to realize that a few months later the valley would 
again be desolate and deserted, owning once more the supremacy 
of the icy grip of the frost and snow. 

Sledging parties were sent northward, one of them reaching 
the spot where the "Alert," of the Nares expedition, had passed the 
winter of 1875. It had been intended to go farther, but the ice 
proved impassable, and they were obliged to return after reaching 
a latitude of 82 degrees 56 minutes. Another party, under Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood, second in command of the expedition, had better 
fortune. 

Setting out in the early spring, a course was laid across the 
frozen strait towards Greenland, the party consisting of thirteen 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 255 

men and five sledges. Advantage was taken of the experience of 
the members of the Nares expedition, and in laying the plans for 
this trip provision was made for a series of food deposits and relief 
parties along the route. This is the- method that has generally been 
since pursued and has proved of great advantage. 

Some of these food caches had been made before the party set 
out, while the last was placed w^hen in sight of Cape Britannia, the 
northwest extremity of Greenland. At this point the party divided, 
three continuing the journey while the others were sent back. The 
three consisted of Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and the 
Eskimo Frederick, one of the dog teams being taken with them. 
This team saved them an enormous amount of labor by dragging 
the sledge for them, but even then they found the traveling exceed- 
ingly difficult. Their sleeping-bags were damp, and consequently 
they were always compelled to rest in great discomfort. As they 
approached Cape Brittania the route became more difficult, and 
their best march was sixteen miles in ten hours. Beyond the cape 
an island was reached, to which the name of the leader. Lieutenant 
Lockwood, was given, and the extreme point of which furnished 
their "farthest north." They had succeeded in reaching the most 
northerly point that had yet been discovered, not only on the coast 
of Greenland, but also in the Arctic regions. The latitude recorded 
was 83 degrees 24 minutes north, being 4 minutes beyond that of 
the Nares expedition, and thus the honor which for three hundred 
years had been the boast of the British, that of having attained the 
nearest point to the North Pole reached by man, was wrested from 
the British Lion by its cousin, the American Eagle. 

The coast line still showed beyond, and to the most distant 
point the name of Cape Washington was given. Then the small 
band turned back, having succeeded in reaching a few miles nearer 
the pole than Commander Markham, of the Nares party, whose 
journey, however, was over the frozen sea, whereas the other was 
along the Greenland and Peary Land coast. 



256 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

The summer of 1882 came and passed without an appearance 
of the reHef ship promised by the government. One had been sent 
out with a load of suppHes, the "Neptune," under WiUiam Beebe, 
but ice and storms prevented its reaching the Fort Conger station 
and it returned, after leaving supplies of provisions at several points 
on the route. Its failure to appear caused no alarm, as food was 
still plentiful, but the coming on of another winter was, as usual, 
one of the unwelcome events of Arctic life. Comfort, however, was 
prepared for by carrying the snow, which in the preceding winter 
had been piled against the sides of the house, over the roof, a pre- 
caution which added considerably to the warmth of the interior. 

When winter passed and spring came again — the spring of 
1883 — Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant Brainard made an ex- 
ploration of the interior of Grinnell Land, covering 437 miles in one 
month's sledging, and adding much to the knowledge of that large 
island, hitherto unexplored in its interior. Summer at length 
arrived and anxiety about the promised relief ship arose. If it 
should again fail to come it would not be safe to remain another 
winter at Fort Conger, and preparations for a retreat in their boats 
was made. These consisted of a steam launch twenty-seven feet 
long, an ice-boat which had been abandoned by Lieutenant Beau- 
mont, of the Nares party, in 1876, and two whale-boats. A depot 
of forty days' full rations was placed at Cape Baird and another of 
twenty days' rations at Cape Collinson, as soon as the ice was open 
enough to allow the launch to proceed. Then when it had returned 
and all the survey parties were in, a decision was come to that if no 
steamer arrived by July 31st the retreat would be commenced. 

July passed and Atigust arrived, but there were no signs of the 
approach of any relief steamer. They could not risk a longer wait, 
and on August 9th, with the boats loaded with the records of the 
work done and as much food as could be stored in them, the party 
bade farewell to Fort Conger and started on what was destined to 
be a tragic journey. The lateness of the season made navigation 



GREELrS ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 257 

extremely difficult for such small craft, and they were frequently 
impeded by ice which would have offered no obstacle to a big 
steamer. The adventurers had scarcely got out of sight of the 
house where they had passed the two long dark winters before they 
w^ere so beset wath loose ice that progress was almost impossible. 
Then new ice formed round them, and they were hard and fast. 
The fact that they only carried a limited supply of fuel made their 
position more serious, and when, on August i8th, a temporary 
breaking in the floes enabled them to move forward, there was a 
general rejoicing. But it was soon checked on discovering that they 
were forced inside of a huge mass of ice over fifty feet high and 
extending right up to the solid floe. It w^as impossible to turn back 
and fight through the drifting ice behind them, and the only hope 
of escape seemed to be to steam on in case there might be a channel 
through the floe ahead. 

As they passed along the great wall of ice they were amazed at 
seeing a crevice run into it. Arriving opposite to it, they found 
that it was a cleavage which w^ent right through the mass, and they 
turned into it. The enormous berg had grounded and had split 
asunder, leaving a passage a hundred yards long and barely twelve 
feet wide, the sides of which were sheer fifty feet high on either 
hand. Such a formation was unique, even in the Arctic regions, 
and the steaming through it was an adventure without a parallel. 

The passage led into fairly open water, and they pushed on 
until Rawlings Bay was reached. Here the floes closed in on them 
so quickly that the boats were caught before anything could be done 
to save them. Hasty efforts were made to lift the lighter boats on 
the ice and to unload the food supplies from the others. The nip 
had not been severe enough to injure the boats seriously, but the ice 
held them captive, and the journey south was now restricted to the 
slow drift of the floe. By August 26th they had traveled 300 miles 
from Fort Conger and were within fifty miles of Cape Sabine, a 
headland where Sir George Nares had left a store of provisions in 



258 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

1876. The present hope of the wanderers was to reach this point 
before the winter night set in. 

Meanwhile, what had become of the government rehef expedi- 
tion? Two ships had been sent out, the "Proteus" and the "Yantic," 
well laden with supplies, but they had experienced much difficulty 
with the ice. The "Proteus" finally succeeded in reaching Cape 
Sabine, but for some reason unexplained it left there without depos- 
iting a supply of provisions, despite the fact that Greely would be 
almost certain to reach that point if forced to retreat from Lady 
Franklin Bay. Whatever the cause of this remissness, it proved 
fatal to most of the retreating party and nearly to all. 

The "Proteus" left Cape Sabine after a short stay, but ice was 
soon again encountered, and on the 23d of July the vessel was sur- 
rounded by heavy floes. In the afternoon the ice closed in upon her 
in immense masses, crushing in the ship's sides. In the early 
evening a change in the tide opened the ice and set her free, but the 
"Proteus" was incurably injured and at once went down. Recog- 
nizing their peril, the crew had taken to the ship's boats, with what 
provisions they could save. A month was spent in reaching Uper- 
navik, where the "Yantic" soon arrived and took them on board. 
This was a small and weak craft and at once sailed south with the 
rescued crew of the "Proteus," Greely and his party being aban- 
doned to their fate. 

When the "Yantic" reached St. John's it was the 13th of Sep- 
tember, too late to make a further effort to reach the ice-bound 
explorers. The best that could be done was to prepare a relief 
expedition for the following summer, this consisting of the "Thetis" 
and the "Bear," two ships purchased for the purpose and put under 
the command of Commander W. S. Schley, of the American Navy. 
The British government also donated for the same purpose the 
"Alert," one of the two ships of the Nares expedition. These set 
out in April and 'May, 1884, reaching Littleton Island near the end 
of June. 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 259 

Meanwhile Greely and his companions were passing through 
a terrible experience. We left them in the drift ice near the end of 
August. When the ist of September came they were still beset, 
with barely fifty days' rations. They were in doubt what to do, 
whether to remain in the boats with the chance of drifting nearer 
to Cape Sabine, lying now about twenty miles away, or to push over 
the rough ice for the shore. Their commander was in favor of the 
former alternative, and they kept in the boats until September loth, 
when it became evident that they would have to make a sledge 
journey to the shore. 

Unfortunately, severe weather now came upon them and their 
journey became a struggle. They had tried to drag two of the 
boats with them, but one had to be abandoned, and on September 
28th they were still struggling over the rough ice with the other. 
Only by the most persistent exertion were they able to reach the 
shore with their stores, this being at a point some distance from 
Cape Sabine. 

They had now traveled 500 miles since they left Fort Conger, 
and not only were the men considerably exhausted by their recent 
struggle, but winter was setting in very rapidly with constant and 
heavy storms. It was therefore decided to form a camp where they 
were, while the snow had not frozen too hard for them to get some 
stones for a shelter. They- had been compelled, on their journey 
over the ice, to abandon everything in the w^ay of covering save 
their sleeping-bags, and unless they built a hut of some description 
the rigor of the winter would inevitably be fatal to all. 

Such stones as could be found wxre collected and built into a 
low wall forming a square of about sixteen feet. The stones were 
difficult to obtain, and the wall could only be made three feet high-. 
An opening was left in one of the sides of the square and a passage-- 
way constructed, so that the entrance to the interior did not open 
directly on to the frozen exterior. Across the top of the walls the 
boat they had dragged with them over the ice was laid keel upper- 



26o GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

most, the oars being laid under it so as to maintain it in position, the 
open spaces between the sides of the boat and the walls being cov- 
ered with such canvas as they had. Around the stone walls and 
over the top, snow was piled, and their living house was complete. 
It sheltered them from the wind and from the extreme bitterness of 
the cold, but beyond that nothing could be claimed for it. Every 
one had to enter it on hands and knees, and, once inside, no one 
could stand up, while the taller men of the party were only able to 
sit up in the middle of the hut where the boat made the roof slightly 
higher. 

The men arranged their sleeping-bags against the walls with 
the feet towards the middle of the floor, and when they had crept in 
through the narrow entrance, they groped their way into the bags. 
Then, half lying and half sitting, with their shoulders against the 
stones behind them, they made themselves as comfortable as they 
could during the long period of darkness. They divided themselves 
into messes for the purpose of feeding, and two cooks prepared the 
food, an operation that was always difficult and unpleasant. It had, 
of necessity, to be carried on inside the hut, and when the two men 
were kneeling in a cramped-up position over the make-shift for a 
stove in the middle of the floor, there was no room for any one else 
to stretch his legs. Every one had to huddle up as closely as pos- 
sible, and as all the smoke from the stove had to find its way out 
of the hut the best way it could, the atmosphere during cooking time 
was far from refreshing. The heat from the stove also thawed the 
ground immediately under it and the snow on the canvas over it, so 
that the cooking of every meal meant a wetting and a choking for 
the cooks. 

The hut finished, a party set out for Cape Sabine in search of 
the provisions supposed to be stored there. They returned on 
October 9th, having found a record of the sinking of the "Proteus" 
just off the cape and the starting of its crew in boats to the soutli 
in search of the "Yantic," Some provisions were found and their 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 261 

whale-boat, which had drifted ashore near the cape, was recovered. 
At a later date it served them for hrewood when their other fuel 
was exhausted. 

The news brought was a serious blow to the wanderers. They 
knew now that no help could reach them till the following spring or 
summer. And it was found that the party from the "Proteus" had 
used much of the stores upon which the Greely party had depended. 
When they obtained what was left, part of the bread was found to 
be a mass of green slimy mildew. Yet so hungry were the members 
of the band sent to convey the stores from Cape Sabine to the hut 
that when the green moldy stuff was thrown out by the officer in 
charge, the men seized and devoured it despite all he could do to 
persuade them from such a course. 

The question of the strictest economy in the management of 
the food supplies was now a matter of life or death, and very seri- 
ouslv the leaders debated it. On October 26th the sun sank beneath 
the horizon, and in the ensuing darkness, which lasted for no days, 
there would be no chance of obtaining any game. A few blue foxes 
had been killed since the camp was formed, and half the number 
were set aside for subsequent consumption, those consumed at once 
being devoured to the bones, every part being put into the stew. 

Meagre as the rations were, it was necessary to reduce them 
still further if the food was to last imtil the spring. By a further; 
reduction it was calculated that the party could exist until March 
1st, when the available supplies would amount to ten days' rations. 
But no relief could possibly reach them until a couple of months 
later than that, and how were they to live after ^larch loth, when 
the last crumb of their supplies had been consumed. 

There was only one course open for them, and that was ex- 
plained by the leader. On November ist the allowance for each 
man would be fourteen ounces, given out every twenty-four hours, 
and on March ist, as soon as there was light, they would take their 
remaining ten days' supply and set out across the frozen straits in 



262 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

the forlorn hope of reaching an outlying camp of Etah Eskimo on 
the Greenland coast. 

The terrible prospect of such a (Scheme to men situated as they 
were can scarcely be imagined. For four months they would have 
to face that rigid diet, suffering the pangs of starvation constantly, 
almost entirely in the dark, and always huddled up in the sleeping- 
bags against the walls of their low-roofed hut. Yet they accepted 
the scheme without a murmur. 

Seldom have men shown themselves so absolutely courageous, 
for at the best it was merely slow starvation so as to be able to make 
an almost hopeless dash for freedom and food in four months' time. 
The suffering during those four months was terrible. Men, as soon 
as they got hold of their day's rations, were tempted to devour them 
at once, and so still for a time the ceaseless gnawing of hunger ; but 
to do so meant that in an hour's time the pain would be back again 
with no means of staying it until twenty-three hours had passed. 
Calmly and bravely they faced the ordeal, dividing their scanty 
store into regular meals, and when, by an accident one of them 
upset his can, spilling his few mouthfuls of tea on the ground, the 
others contributed from their share so that he should not go entirely 
without. Nothing could exceed the touching fidelity which char- 
acterized their bearing, one to the other, during this period of un^ 
exampled suffering. 

At Cape Isabella, a stock of 140 pounds of meat was known to 
have been left by Sir George Nares, and a party of four set out in 
the hopes of securing it. For a week before they started they were 
allowed an extra ration in order to strengthen them for the trial of 
a journey in the dark over rough ice and with the temperature at 
34 degrees below zero. The extra ration consisted of two ounces 
a day. 

For five days they battled their way through the darkness 
against a heavy wind laden with snow, and at last found the food. 
Piling it on their sledge, they turned back home, and for fourteen 



CREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 263 

hours labored with it, consuming only a little warm tea during that 
time, for they had no means of heating more. One of the four was 
badly bitten by the frost, and was soon so stricken that he could not 
even stagger along. A piercing wind was blowing, and to save 
their comrade's life, the others abandoned the sledge and tried to 
support him. Soon two of them became exhausted, and the remain- 
ing one, Sergeant Rice, pushed on alone to the camp in order to 
bring help. For sixteen hours he fought his way over the twenty- 
five miles that lay between him and the hut. When he arrived there 
his lips were too frozen for him to be able to speak at once. 

Weary and weak as the whole party was, eight of the strongest 
at once started out to the rescue. When they reached the spot, they 
found the men lying under the sleeping-bag, which was frozen so 
hard over them that it had to be cut open before they could be got 
out. Then they resumed their way to the camp, which they reached 
after forty-four hours' absence, in which time they had covered 
forty miles. 

The frost-bitten man, Elison, was almost dead, his face, feet, 
and hands being absolutely frozen, but so determined were they all 
to survive as long as possible that he was tended with all the care 
they could command. He was kept alive in spite of his sufferings, 
which, during the first week after his rescue, were so severe that 
he daily called on his comrades to end his misery. 

Meanwhile the memory of the abandoned sledge laden with 
meat was constantly in the minds of the starving men, whose hunger 
was now so great that in the darkness after the lamp w^as put out — 
economy compelled them to use it only for cooking — men crept to 
the stove and devoured any rancid fat left in the lamp. The success 
of the journey across the ice on March ist was what they looked 
forward to, and with the arrival of that date they believed their 
sufferings would be over. 

On January i8th the first one of the party to die passed away, 
really of starvation, although the men, to keep the ugly word away 



264 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

from their minds, accepted the doctor's statement that it was of an 
effusion of water at the heart that the man had died. 

Sergeant Rice, accompanied by the Eskimo Jens, now made a 
plucky effort to reach Littleton Island, where an outlying camp of 
Eskimo might be found; but Jens could not stand the journey, and, 
five days after starting, they returned. Every one was now im- 
pressed with the necessity of husbanding their energies for the great 
effort to be made on the first day of March, and as February slowly 
passed away, the emaciated creatures grew enthusiastic as they 
sought to cheer one another up by detailing the tremendous feasts 
they would have when they returned to civilization. At length the 
1st of March dawned, and the brave hearts, which had kept up so 
long against starvation and despair, shrank before the terrible blow 
they received. The ice had broken, and open water rolled where 
they had planned to ctoss on the ice. Nothing was said, for the 
courage of the men was only equaled by their consideration for one 
another, but the effect of the great disappointment sank deep into 
the minds of many. 

The food remaining was eked out through the month with the 
aid of some blue foxes and a ptarmigan, which were eaten to the 
bones, and April found them with only a few days even of the star- 
vation rations remaining. Several of the men were so weak that 
they could barely turn over in their sleeping-bags. The Eskimo 
Frederick was found dead in his bag, and another of the little party 
followed the next day. Then Sergeants Rice and Fredericks insisted 
on making an effort to reach the meat abandoned when Elison was 
frost-bitten. It is difficult to understand why the effort had not 
been made before; but many errors of judgment are conspicuous 
after a campaign which are not so apparent in the moment of 
struggle. 

Now that it was made it failed, through the freezing wind 
penetrating the starved bodies of the two men. Rice, who through- 
out the terrible ordeal of their captivity had never spared himself, 
was the first to feel it. A strong wind was blowing, bringing down 



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g (S^^ o ft 
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GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 265 

heavy snow squalls. Suddenly Rice began to talk wildly and then 
staggered. Fredericks grasped him by the arm and tried to keep 
him up, but the cold and starvation had too tight a hold upon their 
victim. He vainly endeavored to pull himself together, but only 
for a moment; then he sank down on the snow, babbling about the 
feast he was going to enjoy. 

His comrade tried to restore him by giving him some of the 
stimulants they had w^ith them, and did not hesitate to strip off his 
own fur coat to lay upon him, sitting the while, holding his hands, 
and exposed to all the biting fury of the Arctic wind, in his shirt 
sleeves. But everything was useless; Rice was too worn out and 
too weak to fight further, and died as he faintly talked of the food 
he fancied he was eating. 

The shock to Fredericks was almost overwhelming, for he was 
miles away from the camp, chilled to the bone, and with only a little 
coffee and spirits of ammonia to revive his own drooping vitality. 
Yet he would not leave his dead comrade until he had reverently 
laid him in a shallow resting-place in the snow, though it almost 
cost him his life to pay this last tribute. 

When he at last managed to reach the camp with his sad tidings 
he was almost gone, and the news he brought plunged every one 
into the lowest depths of sorrow, for Rice had always been one of 
the bravest and best of the party. Those who were able to do so, 
attended Fredericks and revived him. 

To those who were weakest the end of Rice was a fatal blow, 
and the next day or so saw three or four pass away, one of whom 
was the intrepid Lockwood. A very few more days and all would 
have gone but for a gleam of good fortune. A young bear was 
killed, and the 400 pounds of meat obtained from it was the salva- 
tion of the survivors. 

Several seals were seen in the straits and a few walrus, and all 
who could still handle a gun were daily striving to obtain fresh 
supplies for the larder. Eskimo Jens, who hunted assiduously, sue- 



266 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 

cceded in killing a small seal ; but in a chase after another his kayak 
was injured in the ice and he was drowned. 

After his death only misfortune attended the hunting, and, 
failing to replenish their stock of game, they were reduced to such 
a terrible plight that they had only the thick skin of the seal on 
which to subsist. Even this fare was carefully divided and meas- 
ured, so that life might be maintained as long as possible in case a 
relief vessel came. One day it was found that somebody was steal- 
ing. All the party was assembled, but no one would admit the 
theft. It was decided that the thief should be shot, if discovered. 
One man, being suspected, was watched. He was caught and 
executed. 

A fortnight later, the last few square inches of the seal's skin 
was gone, and the men, now little more than living skeletons, lay 
in their sleeping-bags looking at one another with hollow eyes, 
wondering, perhaps, who would be the last to go, when a steamer's 
whistle sounded over the straits. 

It was the "Bear," of the expedition commanded by Winfield 
S. Schley, with whom came George W. Melville, late of the "Jean- 
nette," for engineer. They had left St. John's on May 12th, and 
pushed north through the ice of Baffin's Bay and Smith Sound, 
sending a party ashore on June 22d to search for signs of the 
missing explorers. On Brevoort Island a letter written by Lieu- 
tenant Lockwood was found, giving their location and stating that 
their food supply was nearly gone. As this was dated eight months 
before, the dismayed officers lost hope of finding any of them alive. 
Before sunset of the next day Greely's camp was discovered. Greely 
was seen on his knees, ^muttering the prayer for the dying over one 
of his comrades. He looked up, dazed, bewildered, unable to read 
the meaning of what met his eyes. 

"Greely, is this you?'" asked Colwell, one of the party of 
rescue, as he took the emaciated hand. 

"Yes," answered Greely, in a scarcely audible voice. "Yes — 



GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 267 

seven of us left — here we are — dying — like men. Did what I came 
to do — beat the record." 

Seven there were. Death had taken its toll of all the rest. A 
3ay or two more and not a man would have been alive. The careful 
use of restoratives saved the survivors from death, and Adolphus 
Greely still dwells among us, a man of high honor among his 
countrymen. 



CHAPTER XX 

Nansen's Memorable Voyage in the "Fram" 

THE cruise of the "Jeannette," of vv^hich we have elsewhere 
spoken, had one unexpected result. It was the inspiring 
cause of one of the most memorable of polar voyages. This 
arose from the fact that relics from the lost ship were found in 1884 
frozen in floating ice off the coast of Greenland. This fact led to 
much discussion among geographers and the belief arose that a 
strong and steady current flowed along the course over which the 
*'Jeannette" had drifted and along that afterwards taken by the 
floating relics. This belief was not sustained by the experience of 
DeLong and Melville, of the "Jeannette," but it was held by many 
others. 

Here was something worth proving. A theory is of no value 
until it is demonstrated. As the belief that the world is round was 
not proved until the adventurer Columbus undertook to demonstrate 
it, so the theory in question remained an academic opinion until a 
man was found willing to test its accuracy. The man appeared in 
the hardy Norwegian, Fridtjof Nansen. 

Nansen was by no means a beginner in Arctic work. He had 
already made a daring journey across Greenland, he being the first 
man to cross its frozen interior. This was done in 1888, when he 
started in at a point on the east coat of Southern Greenland and 
emerged at a point on the west coast, having traversed the great 
central ice-field of the island. 

As a student of Arctic phenomena, he became firmly convinced 
of the existence of a drift current across the polar region and grew 
eager to demonstrate it. It seemed to him that if a vessel were built 

(268) 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE 'TRAM" 269 

of 'sufficient strength to withstand the pressure of the winter ice, 
and provisioned for a sufficiently long period, there was every 
chance of its drifting along the entire course of the current, perhaps 
to within a measurable distance of the pole, and certainly well within 
that region which had hitherto been unexplored. The area affected 
by the current would have to be entered as near the outside edge as 
possible, so as to participate in the full sweep of its curve, and, in 
order to avoid the terrible crushing pressure of the winter ice, the 
vessel would have to be so built as to cause it to be lifted by the ice, 
when the pressure became too severe, and thus rest on the top. 

His views, when published, did not meet the support he hoped 
for. Some of the veterans in polar research argued that it was 
impossible to build a ship that could withstand the terrible pressure 
of the northern ice-fields. But Nansen was not discouraged and he 
found a shipbuilder willing to build such a vessel as he desired, 
while the Norwegian government voted a sum of over $55,000 
towards the expense. Other support was obtained, and the building 
of the "Fram"" ("Forward"), as the proposed vessel was called, 
was at once begun. 

She was built of wood and of tremendous strength, her beams 
and sides being of great thickness, while on the outside of the hull 
not a single angle was allowed to remain. Every projection was 
carefully rounded ofif and smoothed, so that there should not be as 
much as half an inch protruding and capable of affording the ice a 
holding place. Even the keel was sacrificed to the general idea of 
avoiding possible holding places for the ice. The lines of the ship 
were necessarily different from those of the ordinary vessel. Her 
sides bulged outwards and the stern and stem sloped away, so that 
whichever way the ice exerted the pressure, the "Fram" would 
present a smooth surface to it, inclined in such a way that the 
tendency of the ice would be to get under it and lift the vessel up. 
This did not improve her qualities as a sea boat, and the way in 
which she afterwards pitched, plunged, and rolled, whenever she 



2 70 NANSEiYS MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "PRAM" 

came into a moving sea, tried the sea-faring capacities of every one 
on board. 

She was fitted v^ith engines and a screw, and was rigged as a 
three-masted fore-and-aft schooner. Electric light was laid on all 
over her, the power being generated by a windmill when the engine 
was not working. Every available crevice was utilized for the 
storing of coals and provisions. 

By the middle of June, 1893, the thirteen men who formed the 
expedition had succeeded in finding a place for everything, though 
not without some difficulty, for the quantity of the stores which had 
to be packed was enormous. By a delay in delivery, just as they 
were congratulating themselves that everything was stowed away, 
a shipment of dog biscuits arrived. The ship was full already, but 
the biscuits had to be stored somewhere, so one of the men wriggled 
right up into the bows, and between the beams and the ribs he 
packed away the troublesome late arrivals. Everything was at last 
on board and stored, and on June 24, 1893, the "Fram" started on 
her memorable journey. 

It is not here proposed to give in full detail the story of this 
memorable voyage, but to confine ourselves to its more salient 
points, avoiding the repetition of many features of Arctic life given 
in former chapters. It must suffice then to say that the route lay 
up the coast of Norway and from North Cape through the Arctic 
Ocean until Chabarowa, in the Yugor Straits, was reached on July 
29th. Here thirty-four Siberian sledge dogs were obtained, the 
boilers cleaned and other preparations made, and the "Fram" put 
to sea again, reaching the Kara Sea on Ahigust 4th. 

Here ice and adverse winds caused delay, and the men occu- 
pied themselves in hunting, game being plentiful. The result was 
the gathering of an abundant supply of fresh meat, consisting of 
reindeer, seal and duck. A bear was also shot and a large quantity 
of walrus meat obtained, though in shooting the latter Nansen 
lost his favorite rifle, which dropped overboard and could not be 
recovered. 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 271 

Cape Chelyuskin, the most northerly point of Asia, was reached 
on September loth. They were now nearing the region in which it 
was thought the current turned northward, and after steaming a 
week further east the course was changed and the "Fram" headed 
northward. As long as there was open water ahead the energetic 
crew kept working their vessel so as to get her as high up as possible 
into the area affected by the current ; but when they had passed the 
line which marks the limit of the floes, they soon found that further 
navigation was impossible. The "Fram" was soon fast in the ice 
and, with winter upon them, the crew made themselves and the ship 
as comfortable as they could. 

The builder of the "Fram" had given attention not alone to the 
exterior of the vessel; he had also made the internal arrangements 
as complete as possible for the comfort of the explorers during the 
prolonged period they were to remain in the ice. Now that they 
were in the pack, they realized how well their comfort had been 
considered. For the matter of that, they had always found their 
quarters cosy, even when the "Fram" displayed her capabilities of 
rolling and tossing. The main cabin, in which they lived, was 
always warm, and the passage-ways leading from it to the outside 
were so skilfully arranged that those on board did not experience 
the distressing moisture which was so troublesome on the "Alert" 
and "Discovery." The electric light as a substitute for lamps was 
also an admirable innovation, for the interior of the cabin was 
always brightly lit without the air becoming heavy, as would have 
been the case with exposed lamps. A great deal of thought had 
also been given to ventilation, with the result that the cabins were 
never close. 

Over the deck a large screen was erected, tent shape, and above 
it there was reared the windmill which drove the electric motor and 
generated the electricity for the lights. As the ship was to remain 
in the ice until it drifted out again, everything was made snug for 
a long stay. On the ice alongside various observatories were erected 



2 72 NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

and scientific instruments placed to make complete records, and 
later, a row of comfortable kennels was made for the accommoda- 
tion of the dogs. 

These animals at first had been somewhat troublesome. They 
were so savage that it was necessary to keep them all tied up on 
deck, and during the voyage along the coast they were frequently 
wet and miserable, and incessantly howling. Once, rope muzzles 
were made, and when each dog was fitted they were allowed loose; 
but an Arctic dog requires something stronger than a rope to keep 
its jaws closed when let loose among a lot of other Arctic dogs. The 
result of the experiment was not a success, except from a dog-fight 
point of view; when at length the struggling, snarling, snapping 
pack were separated, they were tied up again to the deck until the 
ship was fast in the ice. By that time they were somewhat recon- 
ciled to one another ; when they had been allowed to have a scamper 
or two, with plenty of opportunity to find out who were the kings 
and who were not, they settled down into a big happy family. 

It was in latitude 78 degrees 50 minutes north that the "Fram" 
was first frozen in, and her course was watched with much anxiety 
to see in what direction she would drift. To their dismay the course 
was toward the southeast, and they feared that they had missed the 
northward drift looked for. A few days later, however, the course 
turned north and all were happy again. 

As for the ice, it steadily increased in thickness and there was 
constant movement in the mass, the pressure causing it to heave^' 
upward and pile into great rugged hummocks. The "Fram" had 
vastly more resisting power than the " Jeannette ;'" but could any 
work of man's hands withstand those jagged masses, which lifted 
before the pressure behind them until they stood forty and fifty feet 
high? Sometimes they were forced up so high that they over- 
balanced and crashed down upon the lower masses with the roar 
and rattle of thunder. 

It was during their second winter in the ice, on January 4 and 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 273 

5, 1895, that the "Fram" was subjected to the greatest pressure 
experienced. The ice was now thirty feet in thickness, a fact which 
was ascertained by boring, and immense masses of it came ghding 
and pressing with tremendous force against the port side of the 
ship. It piled itself up above the gunwales and high up the rigging, 
threatening, if not to crush the imprisoned ship, at least to bury her 
beneath its mass. Scarcely a man aboard believed she could live 
through this terrific assault. 

All the boats were taken out on to the ice and filled with pro- 
visions; the dogs were put in kennels also on the ice where they 
would be free to escape if necessary, and every one was constantly 
on the alert for the first sign of the "nip." All hands were ready to 
leave ship and no one was allowed to sleep unless fully clothed. 

At last it came. They were all at meals when the increased 
uproar of the moving ice told them that the movement was nearing 
the vessel. Then, for the first time, they heard the ominous sounds 
of creaking timber. The "Fram" was being "nipped." 

Every one hurried out of the cabin to see to the boats and the 
dogs and the stores. For the moment it seemed that nothing could 
save her, and that the stupendous weight of the gliding wall would 
soon grind her solid timbers into splinters. There was a sound of 
rending; a groaning crash; the "Fram" shivered till the breathless 
watchers thought they saw her spars tremble. Then, with a mighty 
wrench, she broke from the bonds that held her, and slowly rose 
from her nest in the ice, slipping upwards and away from the crush- ^. 
ing force. A cheer burst from the lips of every one as she moved, 
for it meant not only the realization of the hopes and ideals of those 
concerned in her construction and the complete vindication of their 
faith in her, but also the guarantee that the explorers were safely 
and securely housed, whatever might transpire. 

When the movement in the ice had subsided, It was found that 
the "Fram" had slipped out of harm's way in a marvelous manner. 
So firmly had she been frozen in that the spot from whence she had 



274 HANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

been driven contained a complete mold of her shape, every seam and 
mark being reproduced in the ice. This proved that the test had not 
only been a severe one, but conclusive as well, since the vessel had 
really been frozen so solid into a mass of ice as to be a part of the 
mass. Her escape was an overwhelming disproof of the adverse 
theories expressed against her, and an entire victory for Nansen. 

The existence of this constant movement of the Arctic ice, 
which is everywhere found, calls for some explanation. It might 
be imagined that the vast field of thick ice in the polar seas, extend- 
ing for some two thousand miles between the northern shores of 
America, Asia and Europe, would rest in one vast, moveless plain, 
resisting storms and all other disrupting forces. And so it might 
but for a constant movement in the water itself, that of the tides, 
with their daily rise and fall. 

The ebb tide, in the shallower waters, leaves wide tracts of ice, 
previously afloat, straining on the ground, cracking so as to form 
enormous fissures and weakening the surface resistance. On the 
other hand, the flood tide wells and presses against the overlying 
barrier of ice, lifting it up until it cracks and opens, the pressure 
underneath raising the separated masses upon their neighbors, 
which in turn resist with all their weight and grind back upon the 
masses beyond. With the turn of the tide the forced-up masses 
gravitate down again, tumbling, crashing, bounding and rebound- 
ing one upon the other. 

It is a battle between the energy and the resistance of nature, 
and usually energy wins along the line of least resistance. Here, 
when once a point gives way, the accumulated force concentrates. 
The "point" may be an area of ice a hundred miles square and fifty 
feet thick, and this tremendous mass, moved by the immeasurable 
force of the water pressure beneath it, grinds upon its surroundings 
and upon itself. Huge masses are pushed upon the surface of the 
pack, crushing, grinding, and splintering as they go, their weight 
causing the under ice to bend and crack, and so add to the confusion 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 275 

of the struggle. Mass meets mass in a test of strength, and, faiUng 
to cHmb over one another, crush together, closer and higher, until 
there is a diminution of the pressure from below and they surge 
back, shattering themselves in the commotion and yet binding them- 
selves into a single unit strong enough to resist the next onslaught 
of the tidal energy. 

This is the kind of conflict that was going on around and 
beneath the "Fram," the sturdy vessel braving every nip by slipping 
upwards from the pressure; the crew, confident in her capabilities, 
living in merry good-hurnor in her cabin. What the confusion of 
the ice was like may be gathered from the opinion of those who saw 
it when the return of the sun enabled them to do so, and also relieved 
the pressure. "Imagine a stormy sea, all broken waves and flying 
billows, suddenly frozen solid into ice, and you have some idea, on a 
small scale, of the piled-up hummocks on the pack." 

During their second winter in the ice Nansen determined on a 
bold experiment. Believing that the "Fram" would soon reach the 
highest latitude to which the current was likely to carry her, the 
drift then tending westward through the sea north of Franz Josef 
Land and towards Spitzbergen, he conceived the plan of leaving the 
ship under the efficient care of Captain Sverdrup and taking to the 
ice himself in a sledge journey farther north. He proposed to take 
but one companion, with provisions sufficient for a dash northward 
and a return to land at the Franz Josef islands, as it was hopeless 
to expect to reach the "Fram" again. For companion he selected 
Lieutenant Hjalmar Johansen, of the Norwegian navy, who had 
joined the expedition as stoker and had subsequently become 
Nansen's meteorological assistant. 

A start was made on February 26, 1895, with six sledges and 
provisions for men and dogs for several months. But they found 
themselves too heavily equipped and were obliged to return to the 
"Fram" again, to reduce the weight of their convoy. The next 
start was made on March 14th, this time with three sledges, two 



276 ' NANS EN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE 'TRAM" 

kayaks and twenty-eight dogs, the quantity of provisions being con- 
siderably reduced. The "Fram" had now reached the eighty-fourth 
parallel of latitude, the highest northing so far made, and the route 
of the adventurers lay along the one hundredth parallel of east 
longitude. 

For the first few days traveling was slow, heavy, and laborious, 
the ice being rough and rugged. But it grew smoother as they 
advanced, and always, at the end of each period of travel when they 
formed their camp, the Pole was nearer. On March 22d they 
reached 85 degrees 10 minutes north latitude. The ice they were 
journeying over now was not only rough but was constantly 
moving, the drift being against them. But still they pushed north- 
ward and on the 29th reached the latitude of 85 degrees 30 minutes. 

Progress now became slow, the southward drift growing 
stronger while the ice grew very rough. The labor was severe, the 
ice being piled up in ridges and hummocks, over which the heavy 
sledges had to be drawn. In these cases the dogs were of no assist- 
ance, they patiently resting until the obstacle was passed, and then 
drawing the sledges over a short stretch of level ice until a new 
ridge was reached. On April 7th they were at 86 degrees 14 min- 
utes north latitude, the highest northern point attained by man up 
to that time, and only about two hundred miles from the Pole. 

It was unsafe to venture farther. If they should meet equal 
obstacles on their return they would have great difficulty in reach- 
ing the nearest land. This was Franz Josef Land, lying to the 
southwest of where they were. They had unluckily left their mid- 
winter clothing on the ship, thinking that it would not be needed 
m the spring weather, but in a temperature ranging from 49 to 4 
degrees below zero they felt the want of it severely, the perspiration 
of the body converting their woolen clothing every day into an icy 
coat of mail, which had to be thawed out by the bodily heat at night 
when they crept into their sleeping-bags. As a result they would 
shiver for an hour and a half before they felt at all comfortable. 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE 'TRAM" 277 

The food for the dogs daily grew scarcer, and they were 
anxious to get on as far as possible before it was finished. When, 
therefore, they came upon a stretch of fairly smooth ice, they made 
the most of it, and only when they and their dogs were dead tired 
did they stop. It was their custom to always wind up their watches 
when they crept into their sleeping-bags, but on one occasion, after 
they had kept afoot for thirty-six hours at a stretch, when they 
took them from under their heavy clothing they discovered that 
both had stopped. In their anxiety to push forward they had for- 
gotten to wind them up and the springs had run down. There was 
nothing to do but guess at what the time ought to be, and it became 
difficult to estimate their position. 

Their next trouble was the failure of the dog food. When the 
first dog died they kept him, for unless they fell in with a bear and 
killed it, the bodies of the weaker dogs was all that they could give 
the stronger ones to keep them alive. 

They expected to reach land by the end of April, but April and 
May passed, and still only the rugged ice was in view. One by one 
the dogs had to be sacrificed until only two remained. The weight 
of the sledges was also very considerably reduced by this time. The 
third sledge had been abandoned, and now each man, assisted by 
one dog, dragged a sledge on which rested his kayak, his ski^ fire- 
arms, and other necessaries, as well as a moiety of the remaining 
stores. 

June came in and still no land was in sight, but the character 
of the ice was changing, though not very much for the better. It 
was not so rugged and hummocky, but it was frequently intersected 
by channels mostly full of floating pieces. It was useless taking to 
the kayaks to cross them, and often impossible to go round, so they 
adopted the method of jumping from piece to piece, and drawing 
their sledges after them. On June 226. they came upon a seal, which 
they succeeded in shooting and securing, a fact which was so memo- 
rable that they rested for a day, giving the dogs an ample supply of 



273 NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

the meat. But the rest was scarcely idleness, for they were visited 
by three bears, all of which also fell under bullets. They now had 
abundance of food, both for themselves and the dogs, to last a few 
weeks if they did not come in sight of land. Two days later, how- 
ever, they saw it, lying ahead of them, and they pushed on till a 
wide, open channel stopped them. 

It was evident that the kayaks would have to be used in getting 
across, and they were taken from the sledges and examined. The 
result of the rough handling they had undergone in the journey over 
the ice was manifest in many a crack and hole in the skin-covering, 
but how to repair them was a question which taxed even the 
ingenuity and enterprise of the two intrepid Norsemen. They had 
enough skins to make patches, and twine with which to stitch them 
on. It was the making" of some waterproof coating for the stitch- 
holes that puzzled them. They possessed a little train-oil, and by 
fixing up an arrangement over their spirit cooking stove, they 
obtained a little soot, which was mixed with the oil and used as 
paint. It was not a very artistic compound, but it was the best they 
could make, and it kept the water out. Then the kayaks were care- 
fully fastened together by the ski, and upon them was laid the 
sledges and the stores. 

When everything had been made fast, the explorers prepared 
to launch them. Johansen was behind Nansen, and stooping down, 
when he heard something moving at his back. Thinking it was one 
of the dogs, he did not look round, and the next thing he knew was 
that something hit him beside the head, so that, in his own words, 
"he saw fireworks." He fell forward, and immediately felt a heavy 
body upon him. He managed to turn partly round, and saw just 
above his face the head of a huge bear. 

Nansen, ignorant of what had occurred, was bending over his 
end of the kayak, when he heard Johansen exclaim, "Get a gun." 
Glancing round, he saw his comrade lying under the bear, gripping 
its throat with both hands. With everything securely tied to the 



NAN SEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 279 

kayaks, it was no easy matter to extricate the weapon, and while he 
was seeking to get it he heard Johansen quietly say, "You will have 
to hurry if you don't want to be too late." 

The two dogs, all that were left of the twenty-eight, were 
standing snarling at the bear, and as Johansen spoke the one which 
always traveled with him approached nearer. The bear, having his 
attention for the moment distracted, stepped off Johansen, who im- 
mediately wriggled away and scrambled to his feet. Just as the 
bear turned on to the dog, Nansen got the gun out of its case. 
Swinging round, he found the bear close beside him, and he pulled 
the first trigger he touched. It fired the barrel loaded with shot, 
but so near was the bear that the charge entered behind the ear 
without having time to scatter, and brought him down dead 
between Nansen and Johansen. 

The former was terribly afraid that his companion had been 
seriously injured, but the only mark the bear had left was a streak 
across the face where the dirt had been scraped away. As they had 
not washed their faces since they left the "Fram," there was a thick 
covering of dirt on them, and the bear's claw, as it passed over 
Johansen's face, had scraped this away, leaving the white skin to 
show through. 

Though land had been seen in June, they had a long struggle 
over the ice and water before it came in sight again. Through the 
remainder of the month and the whole of July they battled with the 
broken ice and difficult channels, making little progress with great 
toil, and it was August 6th before land was once more seen, what 
they saw being one of a group of four islands. They continued, 
however, upon the ice, following it downward until August 26th, 
when they were in about latitude 81 degrees 13 minutes north and 
longitude 55^ degrees east. They had been hoping to reach Spitz- 
bergen, where a ship might have been found, but the season was 
now so far advanced that they felt it necessary to winter where they 
were. In crossing the open water to the shore they found it impos- 



28o 'HANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN_ THE "FRAM" . 

sible to bring their two dogs across in the kayaks and could not 
abandon the poor brutes on the ice. They therefore mercifully shot 
them to save them from the painful death of starvation. 

As soon as they came to a place which recommended itself to 
them, they ran ashore and landed the kayaks and stores. The place 
was merely a barren, rocky coast, sheltered somewhat by the high 
ground behind, but without a trace of vegetation. On the beach 
one piece of drift-wood was found. In addition, there were plenty 
of small boulders, but such material was scarcely sufficient for the 
building of a hut in which to pass the dreary, cold, dark winter. 

They overhauled their stores, and found they possessed two 
guns, some cartridges, a small hatchet, and two knives. With the 
hatchet, after considerable labor, they cut through the piece of drift- 
wood, and rejoiced in the possession of a suitable ridge-pole for the 
center of the roof. Stones were collected and built into a low wall, 
within which all their property, except the guns, kayaks, and knives, 
was placed. Then, with the unstored articles, they set out along 
the coast and the floating ice to seek the wherewithal to complete 
the house. 

Walrus was what they especially needed, for the hide would 
afford a covering for the roof, the blubber would furnish fuel for 
the stove, and the meat would be useful as food. They spied two 
lying at the edge of a piece of ice and, approaching with the utmost 
caution, succeeded in shooting both. Their weight, however, as 
they fell over, caused them to slide from the ice, and they were in 
the water before the men could reach them. They secured the 
carcases, so as to prevent them from either sinking or drifting 
away, and essayed to haul them up on the ice again so as to remove 
the hides and blubber. But the combined strength of the two men 
was insufficient to pull one of the huge carcases up on to the ice 
again, and they were compelled to strip the skin and blubber off as 
the walrus lay in the water. This necessitated lying upon the float- 
ing carcases, and by the time the operation was completed, their 




THREE MEN SAVED FROM DEATH 

The commander had sent Rice, Frederick, Elison and Lynn to Cape Sabine 
to obtain meat. The Arctic night enveloped them. Getting the meat they started 
on their return, and on reaching one of the camps EUson's hands and feet were 
frozen. The men threw away the meat in order to drag and carry their comrade. 
Finally they broke up their boat to build a fire to save him. Rice staggered twenty- 
five miles to bring Brainard and Christiansen to their succor. Two of the men were 
frozen in their sleeping bags by the time the relief party reached them. None of 
these men except Brainard and Frederick lived through the ensuing privations. 








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HANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 



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already travel-stained clothing was rendered still more uncomfort- 
able by being saturated with blood and fat. 

Returning to the camp with their walrus hides and blubber, 
they explored the ridge lying behind the spot, and were fortunate in 
finding some moss, which they carefully gathered and carried away 
to assist in the building of the hut. The walls they had made of the 
stones allowed for an internal space of about ten feet long by not 
quite six feet wide. The crevices between the stones they filled in 
with moss and gravel, and then stretching the walrus hides over 
the ridge-pole, they weighted them down with more stones. Over 
all of it they heaped snow and ice and, in order to avoid suffocation 
by the smoke of their blubber cooking stove, they constructed an ice- 
chimney. This, however, did not always carry off the smoke, while 
it frequently thawed at the base, and made the interior very 
draughty. Their guns and other articles and stores they placed 
inside the hut, leaving the kayaks outside; and when everything 
was stored conveniently, they built a wall before the door as a screen 
to break the wind, and hung a curtain of skins across the doorway. 
The floor of the hut was composed of stones which no ingenuity of 
theirs could render smooth or even, and upon these their sleeping- 
bag, the fur of which was almost worn entirely away, was stretched. 

The hut finished, a hunting expedition for winter provisions 
was in place. Bears proved to be sufficiently abundant, and they 
soon succeeded in getting meat enough to last them through the 
winter and well into the following summer. They had put this in 
cold storage on the top of the hut, and though during the winter 
they often heard foxes gnawing at the frozen mass over their heads, 
they let them feed in peace, knowing that they had more than they 
needed for themselves. Bear's meat, fried at night and boiled in 
the morning, was about all the food they had, and during the long 
winter night, when the temperature within the hut was often near 
the freezing point, they would frequently lie in their sleeping-bag, 
side by side, twenty-two hours put of the twenty-four. 



282 NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

A picturesque glimpse is given by Nansen of their life in his 
diary entry made on December 24, 1895, when the temperature 
inside the hut was 11 degrees below zero. 

"And this is Christmas Eve; cold and blowy out of doors, and 
cold and draughty indoors. How desolate it is here! We have 
never had such a Christmas before. The bells are now ringing in 
the Christmas festival at home ; I can hear the sound of them swing- 
ing out through the air from the church towers. How beautiful it 
sounds ! Now the candles are being lit on the Christmas trees, and 
flocks of children are let in and dance round in exuberant glee. 
Must have a Christmas party for children when I get home. We, 
too, are keeping the festival in our little way. Johansen has turned 
his shirt, and has put the outer one inside. I have done the same, 
and have changed my drawers as well, and put on the others which 
I had wrung out in warm water. And then I have washed myself 
in a quarter of a cup of warm water, using the discarded drawers 
as sponge and towel. I feel like a new being ; my clothes do not stick 
to my body as much as they did. Then for supper we had fish 
'gratin/ made of potted fish and Indian meal, with train-oil for 
butter — fried or boiled both equally dry — and as sweets we had 
bread fried in train-oil. To-morrow morning we are going to have 
chocolate and bread." 

Time passed on monotonously enough, the night being dismally 
long and dreary, but at length the approach of the sun became mani- 
fest by the gradually brightening twilight, and the arrival of a 
flock of little auks reminded them that spring was at hand. They 
celebrated the occasion by boiling their clothes, one article at a time, 
in the only pot they possessed, and then scraping the grease and 
dirt from them by the aid of a knife, so as to render them soft 
enough for traveling, as it was beyond the question to get them 
clean. The sooty smoke from the winter's cooking had thoroughly 
begrimed their faces, and all they could do to get clean was first to 
try and scrape the dirt off with the knife, and then rub themselves 
all over with bear's grease and wipe it off with moss. 



NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM^ 283 

By the middle of May the water along the shore was sufficiently 
open to permit of their starting in the kayaks on the journey which 
they expected would end at Spitzbergen. On May 19, 1896, they 
bade adieu to their winter camp, having packed everything on the 
kayaks, which they fastened together for convenience and stability. 
Sometimes they had to get out on the ice which blocked the channel 
and drag the kayaks over to the open water on the other side ; some- 
times they sailed and sometimes they paddled. They passed num- 
bers of walrus lying on the ice, the great monsters paying no heed 
to them whatever. Once they landed on a mass of ice which rose 
high out of the water, in order to climb to the top of it and examine 
the coast line, for they were still in very great doubt whether they 
were off the shore of a hitherto undiscovered island or not. 

They made the kayaks fast to a projecting piece of ice, and 
together climbed up to the top of the hummocks. As they reached 
the summit they looked back to the spot where they had left the 
kayaks, and were horrified to see them adrift. Already they were 
some distance away from the ice, and, being tied together, they 
were going rapidly down the channel. For a moment the sight held 
the two men motionless, for the kayaks represented their only means 
of escape. Everything beyond the clothes in which they stood was 
stored on board, and to be left on the ice without food, arms, or 
shelter, was almost certain death. 

There was only one desperate means of salvation, and that 
Nansen took. Dashing down the hummock, he plunged into the ice- 
cold water and struck out after the retreating kayaks. 

Weighted by his stiff, heavy, grease-sodden clothes, he had the 
utmost difficulty in swimming at all ; but there was a greater handi- 
cap even than his clothes in the low temperature of the water. It 
struck through him with a chill which reached to his bones, numbing 
his muscles, and making his joints lose their suppleness. The breeze 
which was blowing helped the kayaks along, and increased his 
discomfort. Soon he felt that the fight was only a matter of min- 



284 HANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

utes, for as the coldness numbed him more and more, he reahzed 
that unless he overtook the kayaks quickly he would go to the 
bottom like a stone. The cold penetrated to his lungs, so that he 
gasped for breath; his hands and feet lost all feeling, and his eyes 
were growing blurred as he nerved himself for a final desperate 
struggle. 

Swimming as hard as his strength of will and muscle could 
command, he succeeded in coming within touch of the light-drifting 
craft. The fact that the two were fastened together was of the 
utmost importance under the circumstances, for had they been 
separate he could never have clambered into one in his benumbed 
and exhausted condition. As it was, he managed to get one arm 
over the ski which formed the coupling between the kayaks. His 
hands were too cold to grip and he hung for a few seconds resting, 
till the growing chill in his limbs warned him of the danger he was 
in of becoming frozen. With a superb eifort of determination, he 
raised himself until he was able to lift a leg over the side of one of 
the kayaks, and then struggled on board, where he lay for a minute 
or so trying to recover his breath. 

Still fearing the cold, he grasped a paddle and set to work 
vigorously to force the kayaks back to the ice on which Johansen 
was standing. The exertion caused his blood to circulate once more, 
and, by the time he had reached the ice, the deadly chill was out of 
his frame. There were no dry clothes to put on in place of his wet 
ones, and all that could be done was to wring them out, and then, 
working hard to keep up his circulation, wait till they dried on 
his back. 

In order to prevent another such occurrence, the kayaks were 
freed from each other, Nansen occupying one with half the pro- 
visions and stores, and Johansen the other. Two days after the 
break away they had reason to be thankful they had made this 
arrangement. They were skirting along the ice at the time, and 
suddenly came upon a herd of walrus. Instead of quietly watching 



NAN SEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 285 

them go past, as was usually the case, a huge bull slid off the ice 
with a roar, and swam rapidly towards Nansen's kayak. 

Diving as he came near to it, Nansen anticipated that he 
intended rising immediately underneath it, and so capsizing it. He 
therefore paddled as hard as he could, when the walrus rose by his 
side. It reared high out of the water, towering over the kayak 
and its occupant, and only by the quickest of manoeuvres was 
Nansen able to avoid having it fall upon him. Balked in that 
attempt, the walrus swam alongside and, plunging its tusks through 
the frail covering of the kayak, strove to upset it with its flipper. 

Nansen swung his paddle in the air, and bringing it down with 
all his strength on the monster's head, caused it again to rear in 
the water. Paddling furiously directly the brute's tusks were with- 
drawn, he managed to elude it till it sank, when he made for the ice, 
reaching it just in time, the water having almost swamped the kayak 
through the holes the walrus had made with his tusks. 

When the damaged kayak was taken out of the water, the 
injury was found to be more extensive than at first supposed. The 
two explorers determined to stay where they were for a few days, 
so as to thoroughly overhaul and repair their kayaks, and have a 
good rest before commencing the difficult journey, which was to be 
made before they could arrive at Spitzbergen. They made aa com- 
fortable a camp as they could on the ice, and, after supper, got into 
the sleeping-bag and rested peacefully. Nansen was first awake, 
and, having crept out of the bag, set to work preparing breakfast. 
It was ready before Johansen was, and not wishing to disturb his 
comrade, Nansen put on his ski and set out for a "constitutional" 
over the ice. He had not proceeded far when he heard a sound 
which made his heart jump. It was the bark of a dog. 

Hurrying back, he told Johansen, who, however, did not catch 
the meaning of his words, and then set out in the direction whence 
the sound had come, in search of, as he believed, a whaling ship. 
He had not gone very far when he saw in the distance two moving 



286 NANS EN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

Specks. There was evidently a whaler in the neighborhood, he told 
himself, and redoubled his efforts. As he approached the two specks 
became clearer, until he saw distinctly that one was a man and the 
other a dog. 

The man noticed him and waved his hat, to which Nansen 
replied by waving his ; as they came nearer, he heard the man speak 
to his dog in English. 

"How do you do?" he said to Nansen when they met. 

"How do you do?" Nansen answered, as they shook hands. 
"Are you wintering near here?" 

"Yes; our camp is over there. Won't you come across?" the 
other replied. "I think we can find room for you, if you will." 

Nansen, never dreaming but that he was recognized, assented, 
although he wondered why the man did not ask him about the 
"Fram." Presently his companion looked at him closely and said: 
"Are you Nansen?" 

"Of course I am," the explorer answered, and at once both his 
hands were clasped in a hearty grasp as his companion quickly 
expressed his congratulations. 

"I was not certain," he explained. "When I saw you in Lon- 
don you were a fair man with light hair, but now your face and hair 
are black, and for the moment I did not know you. My name is 
Jackson." 

Nansen had forgotten that his face and hair were still begrimed 
with the dirt and grease of months of travel, and that his own 
family might have been forgiven for not recognizing in the un- 
kempt, travel-stained, long-haired man, the smart, well-set-up 
Norwegian doctor. Now, however, that he was known, he listened 
with great interest to the information that his companion was able 
to give him. 

This was to the effect that he was the leader of a party, known 
as the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, which had left England 
for Franz Josef Land in 1894, its purpose being to make a thorough 



NANS EN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 287 

exploration of that group, and prove whether it was the southern 
portion of a great polar continent or a collection of islands. He 
had found the latter to be the case. Instead of it being comprised 
of two large bodies of land, as believed by the original discoverers, 
it was found to be an archipelago of small islands. The probability 
of there being a polar continent was largely set to rest when Nansen 
told him that he had sounded the sea to the north and found it to 
be from 1,600 to 1,900 fathoms deep. 

As he and Mr. Jackson talked another member of the party 
joined them, and close behind him came four others, all of them 
giving the wanderer a hearty greeting. When the encampment of 
the party on Cape Flora was reached Nansen was photographed as 
he stood, in his winter garb. Then they took him into the house 
and supplied him with a luxury he had not known for more than a 
year — a cake of soap and a change of clothes.* 

While he was enjoying his bath, his hosts exchanged opinions. 
The fact that he had arrived on foot and alone suggested to them 
the idea that he was the only survivor of the thirteen who had set 
out in the "Fram," and they decided to make no reference to what 
might be a very unhappy memory. Consequently, when Nansen 
reappeared, clean and comfortably clad, they had a meal ready for 
him, and urged him to set to at once. He looked at them and asked 
where his comrade Johansen was. Had they not brought him in? 
Of course they knew nothing about Johansen ; they believed Nansen 
was the only survivor, and he had been so long out of the world that 
it had never occurred to him it was necessary to tell them Johansen 
was waiting for him to return to breakfast. When two men see no 
one else but themselves for more than a year, it is not to be won- 
dered at that they forget the rest of the world is not in touch with 
'them. 

As soon as he mentioned the fact that Johansen was in the 
neighborhood, a party at once started off to fetch him, and the 
worthy lieutenant was as much surprised as they had been when 



288 NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 

they came upon him. They at once took charge of him and his 
belongings, and a few hours later he and Nansen, well washed, well 
clad, and well fed, were smoking cigars in comfortable chairs in 
the dining-room of the hospitable Jackson's quarters, the heroes of 
the occasion. 

Three weeks later they were sailing south to Norway in the 
"Windward," and arrived at Vardo on August 13, 1896. A week 
later the "Fram" entered the same port, with all her crew in good 
health, and with nearly three years' supplies still on board. 

The record of her voyage, after the departure of Nansen and 
Johansen on March 14, 1895, was very satisfactory. She drifted 
steadil}^ in the ice towards the northwest until she touched as high 
as 85 degrees 57 minutes north. At the end of February, 1896, 
she became stationary, and remained so until the middle of July, 
when the crew forced a passage through the ice into open water, 
and from thence the "Fram" sailed to Norwa)^. The first news the 
crew received on arrival at Vardo was that Nansen and Johansen 
had reached there just a week before. They had had some mis- 
givings as to the safety of their two adventurous comrades, and the 
news of their return cleared away the only sign of uneasiness from 
the otherwise happy minds of the men who formed one of the most 
successful expeditions that has ever set out in search of the 
North Pole. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Andree's Fatal Flight Northward in a Balloon 

WE have dealt with many methods of seeking the Pole, b> 
ship, by boat, by sledge, by floating in the ice; there is 
still another to be considered, that of flying through the 
air, one by which all the difficulties of ice ridges, ice drift, and 
open water caused by splitting of the ice, can be avoided. But in 
avoiding these there are other difficulties to be met, some of them 
perhaps insuperable, and the first attempt to reach the Pole by an 
air voyage could scarcely be expected to be more successful than the 
first one by the water voyage. It is this first — ^perhaps also the last 
— ^air voyage with which we are here concerned. The fact that the 
air, if it could be traversed in safety for the necessary distance, 
offered a field in which all the perils and delays of ice-navigation 
could be avoided, and the great journey could be completed, if at 
all, in days or weeks instead of years, and with a minimum of 
suffering and hardship, was one very likely to appeal to adven- 
turous spirits. 

To maintain the feasibility of such an excursion, however, was 
one thing ; to attempt it was another. In the degree of development 
of navigation of the air up to the end of the last century such an 
enterprise did not commend itself to the judgment of the cautious. 
Yet a Columbus is rarely wanting when a new continent is to be 
discovered or a great feat of any kind to be performed, and the 
Columbus in this instance was S. A. Andree, a Swedish engineer, 
who set out in the summer of 1897 on a singular and daring enter- 
prise, one which, despite its promise, was filled with perilous ele- 
ments and threatened by all the terrors of the unknown. 

(289) 



290 AND REE' S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

This daring attempt was one of so much interest that an 
account of it will doubtless be read with interest, despite its failure 
to attain its end. Solomon August Andree was born in the town 
of Grenna, Sweden, in 1854, was educated in the technical college 
of Stockholm, and after engaging in the iron business, entered the 
field of engineering. He next became a teacher of physics at the 
college at Stockholm from which he had graduated and subse- 
quently chief engineer of the Patent Office of Sweden. 

During this period he was active in other ways. In 1881-82 
he joined an expedition to Spitzbergen under Dr. Ekholm, with the 
purpose of making scientific observations, and at a later date 
crossed the ocean to Philadelphia to study the oceanic conditions of 
the atmosphere. He was gathering information likely to be of use 
to him in his later career. One thing that struck him in this voyage 
was the regularity of the currents of air near the ocean surface. 
From this he deduced that the upper currents would be still more 
uniform and that it might be possible, by taking advantage of them, 
to cross from Europe to America in a balloon. Such was the 
primary step toward the famous enterprise which he was after- 
wards to undertake. 

He continued his study of atmospheric conditions, his brother 
Ernst, a sea-captain in the merchant service, making observations 
for him in all parts of the world. To study the currents of the 
upper air he made a number of balloon ascents with Coelti, a promi- 
nent Norwegian aeronaut, in this way gaining useful experience 
in the art of ballooning. 

We have said that Andree had the spirit of a Columbus, and 
that not without warrant, for he had conceived the daring plan of 
following in the air the path of Columbus through the waves, his 
project being to cross the ocean in a balloon from the Cape Verde 
Islands to Venezuela. This was for the purpose of proving that 
long voyages in the air could be safely made. 

Spending the summer of 1893 with his sailor brother at Gote- 



ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT L\ A BALLOON 291 

borg, the details of the plan and the probable aid of the air currents 
were worked out between them, their calculations leading to the 
conclusion that the distance could be traversed in ninety-seven 
hours. Their study was as thorough as it could be made with the 
imperfect data at their command, and the results were submitted 
to several of the Swedish scientists, including the explorer Norden- 
skiold, one of whom said: 

"If you have faith in such an undertaking, why not rather set 
out from Spitzbergen and try to reach the North Pole?" 

This first put the great project in which he afterward engaged 
into Andree's mind, a project among the most daring and adven- 
turous that man had ever undertaken, considering the state of 
aeronautical science at that period. Full of his new scheme, which 
appealed strongly to his enthusiastic soul, he began a series of 
experiments in aeronautics, obtaining a sum of $1,400 from a 
memorial fund at Stockholm to assist him. In one of his ascents 
he crossed the Baltic, with great peril to his life, in a small balloon. 

His great project was first publicly made known in a lecture 
before the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1895, printed 
w^ith the title of "Proposed Plan of an Expedition to the North Pole 
in a Balloon." In this lecture he said, referring to the fact that so 
far the polar explorer had used only one means of travel, the sledge : 

"The fact remains that in attempting to push on over the polar 
ice we have lost numbers of men, ships, and money, and several 
hundred years of time, without having succeeded in crossing the 
icy desert and reaching the Pole. Is it not time to examine this 
question and look about for some other means of transportation 
than the sledge? Yes, it is time, and we will not have to look far 
to find the means that is particularly adapted for such purposes. 

"This means is the balloon. Not the ideally perfect steerable 
balloon that is dreamed of and worshipped but has never been seen, 
but the balloon that we really possess and that Is judged so unfavor- 
ably while only its weak points are noticed and emphasized. Such 



292 ' ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

a balloon is good enough to carry the explorer to the Pole and back ' 
again. With such a balloon the voyage across the icy desert cmi 
be accomplished.'" 

Had he waited some ten years more he would have found the 
steerable balloon to which he referred developed to a state of con-( 
siderable perfection, but his enthusiasm was too great to permit 
delay. 

Andree was a delegate to the Geographical Congress at London 
in July, 1895, and presented to it his plans with much elaboration. 
His arguments were received with considerable favor, some of the 
delegates becoming quite enthusiastic. One of these was Markham, 
the leader of the exploring party of the Nares expedition, who 
supported him strongly and said that he would like to go with him 
himself. Nordenskiold also remained a faithful supporter of the 
project, and also Nils Ekholm, one of the ablest meteorologists of 
Europe, who showed his faith in the scheme by agreeing to go with 
him. On the other hand, many men of experience in Arctic affairs 
descried the daring project, predicting certain failure and the inevi- 
table death of the adventurer and all who joined him in the rash 
attempt. 

He found the necessary financial support, however, without 
difficulty, the required sum, $36,000, being quickly raised by a 
public subscription, the King of Sweden heading it with $8,000. 
Meanwhile Andree continued his experiments, spending the winter 
of 1895-96 in France and England and making many ascents with 
French aeronauts. The balloon for his enterprise was constructed 
at Paris under his close supervision, it costing about $10,000. It 
was about seventy-five feet in height and had a capacity of 6,000 
cubic meters of gas, it being intended to lift a weight of three tons, 
consisting of the aeronaut and two companions, provisions for a 
year or more, scientific and other apparatus, and the requisite 
mechanism and chemical materials to manufacture a new supply of 
gas in the polar regions, if necessary. The balloon was enclosed 



ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 293 

with heavy cordage, so as to enable it to resist the action of the sun. 
An ingenious contrivance for direction motion v^as added. This 
consisted of a rubber sail secured to the apex of the balloon, with 
a rope leading to the car. In addition was a guide rope, which was 
intended to drag on the ground or in the water, arrangements being 
made to adjust it to different positions for 180 degrees of the cir- 
cumference of a ring attached to the car. 

In the manufacture of the balloon three thicknesses of silk 
were used, with varnish to bind them together and three thicknesses 
of varnish on the outside. The gondola or car, which hung about 
twenty-five feet below, was about five feet deep and six and a half 
feet in diameter. It was made of wicker-work lined with varnished 
silk, and was capacious enough to allow one of the aeronauts to 
sleep while the others were on the alert. A lid of basket-work cov- 
ered it, with a trapdoor in it by which the car could be entered or 
left. While at work the men were to stand upon this lid, having a 
large ring, waist high, to protect them. 

The cooking apparatus was ingeniously devised to prevent 
danger of firing the inflammable gas of the balloon. It was done 
in a copper cylinder let down from the car, an alcohol lamp sup- 
plying the heat. This could be lighted by a mechanism in the car 
and blown out by means of a rubber tube, while a reflecting glass 
enabled the cook to see if it was burning. 

The guiding and steering apparatus represented the best means 
that could be devised for this purpose before the advent of the 
dirigible air-ship. The guiding ropes were of different lengths, the 
shortest measuring about one thousand feet and the longest about 
twelve hundred. These were intended to hang from a bearing-ring 
just outside the car, and, when the balloon was not too high, to drag 
on the ice or the ground. Experiments with this device in July, 
1895, showed that when the rope was attached to the central 
eyelet the balloon moved in the line of the wind, but when attached 
to one or the other side its course was changed by a considerable 



294 ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

number of degrees. The sail could be adjusted to aid materially 
in this result, and it was thought that by its use and the rudder-like 
effect of the dragging rope a tack of thirty degrees could be made. 
It was intended to so manipulate the gas and the basket as to keep 
the balloon about five hundred feet above the surface. 

A large number of carrier-pigeons were taken along to be sent 
back with any important news. A supply of cork buoys was also 
taken, each having a vertical shaft with a small Swedish flag 
attached to it. In the center of each buoy was a small water-tight 
metal box, in which a letter could be placed before it was thrown 
overboard. Such buoys might float for months or even years before 
they came ashore or were seen and picked up at sea. 

The locality chosen for the start was Danes Island, one of the 
northwestern islands of the Spitzbergen group, the proposed time 
for the start being the month of July, 1896. Andree^s chosen com- 
panions were Dr. Nils Ekholm, a meteorologist of high standing, 
and Nils Strindberg, an amateur photographer who was eager to 
take part in the trip. These two had made many of the instruments 
taken in the balloon. 

The spot chosen for the ascent was Pike's house, built by an 
English sportsman in the northern part of the island. Here an 
octagonal building was erected and the balloon inflated by its maker 
in the latter part of July, 1896. All was ready by the 27th, but the 
favoring south wind desired failed to blow. They waited impa- 
tiently for the wind to change to the right quarter, but it blew 
steadily from the north, and at the end of the first week of August 
it was decided that the season was too far advanced to warrant a 
start. The disappointed explorers accordingly sent their materials 
and apparatus to Tromso to be stored and returned to Stockholm to 
wait the coming of another summer. 

The necessary funds for a new expedition were easily obtained 
and the king now placed a Swedish gunboat at Andree's disposal 
to aid him in his effort. But during the winter Ekholm withdrew 



ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT L\ A BALLOON 295 

from the party, either fearing the resuh or on account of being 
recently married and in response to his wife's fears. He was 
replaced by Knut Frankel, an able engineer, whose aid Andree was 
glad to obtain. 

The new start for Danes Island was made early in June, 1897, 
and on the 19th the work of inflation of the balloon began. Its 
surface was thoroughly examined to check any leakage or repair 
any weak spots that might appear, all the work being pressed for- 
.ward with great rapidity. Last of all, the inflation being finished, 
the car was attached to the balloon, which was held down by three 
strong ropes. All w^as ready for the great ascent. 

Andree's last act on the nth of July, the day of the ascent, was 
to write two messages, which were taken to Tromso and telegraphed 
to Stockholm. One read: 

''To Aftonblast: 

''To-day, Sunday, at 10.35 ^- ^^v we began preparations for 
departure, and are ready now, 2.30 p. m. We shall probably be 
going in north and northeast direction and expect by and by to 
come into regions with more favorable wind conditions than here. 
In the name of all my associates I send warmest greeting to father- 
land and friends. Andree/' 

The other was to the king: 

"ViRGOs Harbor, July 11, 2.35 p. m. 
''To King Oscar: 

"In the moment of departure the members of the polar expedi- 
tion beg your majesty to accept our respectful greeting and warmest 
ithanks. Andree,"' 

Everything ready and the moment arrived, the members of the 
expedition shook hands cordially with those who were there to see 
them off, the latter showing more emotion than the three explorers 
themselves, of whom onlv Strindberg manifested any signs of 



296 ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

anxiety. Entering the car and examining to see if everything was 
in order, the leader called, "Strindberg !" Strindberg stepped upon 
the car. "Frankel!" Frankel followed. "Come!" said Andree in 
a cheerful tone. The sailors appointed to cut the holding cords 
first released those that held the center of the balloon. It imme- 
diately began a rolling motion, and they had to wait until it should 
come to a partial rest. "Cut !" then cried Andree. The knives were 
plied; the ropes parted; the balloon shot up three hundred feet into 
the air. 

A loud cheer and cries of "Happy Voyage" came from those 
left behind as they watched the course of the great balloon. Its' 
first movement was a swoop downward until it nearly reached the 
surface of the water, then it rose again before the violent wind 
that was blowing and shot away at great speed, the three explorers 
waving their handkerchiefs as it swept from the land out over the 
Arctic Sea. In about half an hour it vanished from the view of 
the spectators, though they continued to wait for some time longer 
in hope that a last glimpse might be obtained, som,e of them, doubt- 
less, fearful that they had gazed for the last time upon their late 
companions. 

An incident of an unfortunate character happened at the start. 
As the balloon bounded upward two of the guide ropes, a consid- 
erable length of which trailed upon the ground, yielded to the ten- 
sion caused by the quick bound and friction with the surface, and 
broke. Only that this possible accident had been provided for, these 
indispensable aids would have been lost at the very start. Fore- 
seeing such a mishap, Andree had the ropes constructed in sections 
of about one hundred yards each, joined with screws. It was the 
lower sections that gave way, so that fortunately the accident did 
not prove serious. 

The utility of the guide ropes was evidcK/. to the spectators, 
since, though the wind was south-southwest, the explorers suc- 
ceeded in laying their course nearly due nott'fi. They also aided 



AN DREE' S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 297 

in keeping the height uniform. The only peril encountered was 
from an ice-clad hill, six hundred feet high, which lay in their 
path. But when the balloon neared this it rose and soared over it 
like an enormous bird, keeping steadily to its distance from the 
surface. When finally all hopes of catching another glimpse of the 
balloon were at an end, the spectators turned away, glad that the 
opportunity had been theirs of seeing so unusual an event. I 

The explorers had set out prepared to face a possibly long 
detention in the frozen world. In the car of the balloon they carried 
weapons, ammunition, and material suitable with which to build a 
shelter, should the balloon collapse and leave them on the ice. An 
aluminium boat was also carried, so that the party could escape by 
sea if necessary. Of the carrier pigeons taken with them, to be 
liberated at intervals on the passage, nothing certain was after- 
wards known. Although one pigeon is said to have been shot in 
the far north, it is doubtful whether it was one of the Andree birds. 

The balloon, when it went out of sight, was traveling at a speed 
which would have carried it over the Pole in a few days, and prob- 
ably have enabled it to descend in Siberia or America in about a 
week. For the first fortnight after it had started, therefore, interest 
all over the world was keenly excited for further news. But the 
fotnight passed without any reliable intelligence being received, and 
a month followed, and so on until a year had gone by. Then relief 
and search parties were talked about, and the Swedish Geographical 
Society sent one out to look for the missing balloonists in Siberia. 
It did not meet with Andree, nor did it obtain any reliable informa- 
tion respecting him. 

News was published to the effect that some outlying hunting 
tribes had come upon a huge bag, having a mass of cordage attached 
to it, together with the remains of some human bodies. The Rus- 
sian, Swedish, and Norwegian governments immediately sent 
forward auxiliary search parties, but their only success was to trace 
the origin of the report, and find that a Siberian trader had, in a 



298 ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

moment of mischievous humor, hoaxed a too confiding telegraph 
agent. 

Later, on September 12, 1899, a Swedish sloop, the "Martha," 
reached Hammerfest with the information that a buoy, branded 
with the name of the Andree expedition, had been found to the 
northeast of King Charles Islands. The buoy had lost the screw- 
plug from the top, and had be^en so damaged by coming in contact 
with some hard substance that the interior cylinder was too dented 
to permit of an examination being made of the inside. 

It is still possible that one of the buoys taken by Andree may 
be discovered containing a record of his doings from the moment 
he disappeared with his balloon sailing towards the north. But it 
is very unlikely, and it is scarcely probable that any sign will ever 
be discovered of the balloon or its occupants. For years the frozen 
north held all traces of the Franklin expedition from the eyes of the 
searchers who were able to conduct their operations along the route 
they knew Franklin had followed. No search party can knowingly 
follow the route Andree and his comrades took. Their fate will 
probably be forever a mystery, for so many things might have 
happened that no one theory can claim for itself more probability 
than another. All that is certain is that the party went out of sight 
drifting towards the north. They carried their lives in their hands, 
and knew that they did so. Had they succeeded, they would have 
achieved a mighty triumph; they failed, and in doing so set their 
names as indelibly on the scroll of Fame as any hero who has laid 
down his life in the contest with the measureless mystery of 
the Pole. 

In a lecture delivered by Andree in April, 1896, he had used 
the following words : "If our expedition should return home with- 
out success, or even if we should perish, it will not be long before 
a new balloon expedition will be started for the same purpose as ours. 
This idea has taken so mighty a hold on the human mind that it 
cannot be quieted. It will necessarily appear again with the full 
strength of a natural law." 



, ] ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 299 

In this conjecture he was not astray, for in less than ten years 
after his venture a similar project was devised by an American 
explorer. This was Walter Wellman, an enterprising western 
journalist, who had made an unsuccessful polar expedition by the 
Franz Josef Land route in 1899. A few years later he proposed to 
take advantage of all the progress made in ballooning and air-ship 
experiment since Andree's unfortunate effort in an attempt to reach 
the Pole, and was very hopeful of success. 

The air-ship, or dirigible balloon, built for him at Paris, was 
the largest which had been constructed to that time, and was taken 
by him to Danes Island, Spitzbergen, in 1906. He had selected this 
island, as Andree had done, as the most available starting point for 
such a voyage. His air-ship was 183 feet long, 52 J4 feet wide, had 
a 20 horse-power engine and two propellers, one on each side. It 
had also a complete sledging outfit and a combined boat and car, 
these to be used in case of accident to the balloon. It was supplied 
with fuel and food sufficient to last five persons for a considerable 
time. 

He proposed to start in the summer of 1906, hoping to reach 
the Pole in a few days. But before the time of starting arrived 
serious mechanical defects were found in the apparatus, of a char- 
acter that would have exposed the explorers to great danger. The 
air-ship was accordingly taken back to Paris for reconstruction, the 
expedition being delayed for another year. 

In 1907 the air-ship, with its defects remedied, was taken again 
to Danes Island. But the weather proved seriously detrimental to 
the enterprise, furious gales blowing and the general conditions 
being so unfavorable that a second postponement was felt neces- 
sary. In the following year further improvements were made, and 
the great air-ship, capable of carrying 19,000 pounds and making 
twenty miles an hour by the aid of its powerful engines, was again 
got in order for a flight, a trial trip, which proved its efficiency, 
being made. It was then too late in the y^ar to start for the Pole, 
and 1909 was fixed for the date. 



300 ANDKEE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 

In the summer of 1909 Mr. Wellman for the first time suc- 
ceeded in getting a* send off for the Pole. He did not go far, the 
journey suddenly ending for a reason like that which had imperilled 
Andree's voyage at its start, the breaking of his guide rope. Well- 
man had a long and very heavy rope attached to his car, not as a 
rudder but as a drag to counterbalance the ascending power of the 
balloon. It was intended to trail on the ice, so that, if the air-ship 
should rise and lift it upward, the weight of the part in the air 
would increase so as to limit the degree of ascension anci keep the 
height practically uniform. The drag-rope weighed about 1,400 
pounds, its weight being increased in an ingenious manner. It was a 
hollow tube of leather in which a considerable part of the foo3 supply 
was packed. Outwardly, in its lower part, it was covered with over- 
lapping steel scales, so that it could slip easily over rough ice. 

It was this weighted rope that proved disastrous to the expedi- 
tion. The strain of the first sudden rise of the air-ship caused such 
a tension that the rope parted near the car, its total length being lost 
and the balloon darting rapidly upward into the air. The often 
deferred expedition was again at an end. To venture onward with- 
out the drag-rope would be like a ship venturing to sea without its 
rudder, and it became necessary to bring the apparatus to land 
again, a feat which was accomplished with some trouble and risk. 

It would be rash, indeed, to say what can or cannot be done in 
the future to utilize the still developing methods of aerial naviga- 
tion in the work of polar exploration. A great deal of discussion 
was occasioned by Count Zeppelin's projected flight northward in 
a balloon, and many interesting theories were brought out as to the 
chances of such an expedition achieving success. All of these theo- 
ries are, of course, chiefly speculative. Suggestions have also more 
recently been put forth for an attempt to reach the Poles by the use 
of aeroplanes. Such an idea is not acceptable to most minds, but 
doubtless there could be found many daring — some would say fool- 
hardy — men who would be willing to undertake the adventure if 
provided with the necessary equipment and organization. 



ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 301 

But while we cannot say definitely that a balloon or aeroplane 
could or could not safely reach the Poles now or at some future time, 
we can say that there now seems small probability of such an event. 
Besides the limited degree of reliability which has been thus far 
attained in aeronautics, there is also to be considered the fact that 
the mass of experience which has been accumulated in the use of 
dogs and dog sledges, and even of ponies and motor sledges, is far 
too valuable to ignore in future polar expeditions. When we con- 
sider the almost insurmountable difficulties that lie in the way of 
progress through the ice and snow and terrible blizzards encoun- 
tered in polar work, even when the undertaking is made with rugged 
animals and substantial sledges, it seems that success is much less 
probable when these accessories are forsaken for relatively delicate 
balloons and aeroplanes which would have to face untested perils 
in the driving storms and ferocious head winds existing both in the 
Arctic and Antarctic Zones. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Abruzzi, the Royal Italian Explorer 

IN the year 1899 a new nation entered upon the work of polar 
exploration. Hitherto the work had been confined to the 

Americans, English, Scandinavians and Russians and the 
people of the south of Europe had taken no part in it. But now 
Italy stepped into the field, in the person of the ambitious and adven- 
turous Duke of the Abruzzi, a cousin of King Victor Emmanuel 
of Italy. In 1897 the duke had begun a career of exploration by 
proceeding to Alaska and climbing to the lofty peak of Mount St. 
Elias, which he was the first to reach. He now grew eager to reach 
another peak, that of the earth at its northern extremity. 

Realizing, however, that the Italians had had no experience in 
the ice-clad seas and had no vessels specially adapted to the kind of 
navigation before him, he wisely availed himself of the experience 
and equipment of the Norwegians. Buying the old sealing steamer 
"Jason,"' of Norwegian build, he had it refitted for polar work, 
giving it the new name of "Stella Polare" — "Polar Star." He also 
availed himself of the valuable aid of Dr. Nansen in arranging his 
plans and preparing his equipment and very wisely added a quota 
of Norwegians to his crew, it being composed of ten of the sons of 
Italy and ten of those of Norway. His plan of action was to sail 
as far north as possible, establish winter quarters upon some far 
northern coast, and seek in the spring to reach the vicinity of the 
Pole by sledge journeys. 

Abruzzi was availing himself to the utmost of the work of his 
predecessors. In addition to the valuable advice and aid of Nansen, 
he took advantage of the camp established in Franz Josef Land by 

(302) 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 303 

the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, and in his purpose of making 
sledge dashes northward he was following the plan laid down by 
Peary and Nansen. 

Reaching Archangel, in Northern Russia, the "Stella Polare" 
was headed northward for Franz Josef Land, and in August, 1899, 
reached Cape Flora, Jackson's headquarters, in latitude 80 degrees 
north. It was here that Nansen had been rescued and entertained. 
The huts of the former occupants were found standing intact, and 
AbruzzI stocked them with provisions for a food depot and pushed 
northward through the British Channel. 

On reaching latitude 80 degrees 30 minutes the "Stella Polare" 
was met by the "Capella," Walter Wellman's ship, then sailing 
southward after an unsuccessful voyage north. Wellman, how- 
ever, had done some good work in exploring and mapping the Franz 
Josef archipelago. The two exploring parties exchanged visits, 
after which each set out on its special course, the one southward to 
civilization, the other northward to desolation. The British Channel 
and the waters north of it proving unusually free from ice, the 
"Stella Polare" was enabled to steam beyond the eighty-second 
degree of latitude to a position near the shores of Crown Prince 
Rudolph Land, the western coast of which had been visited by Payer 
in 1883 and the eastern coast by Wellman in 1899. 

The ship was now at or near the northern extremity of land 
in that region, and as the plan of the expedition was to establish 
headquarters on some suitable coast, making this the base for sledge 
journeys northward, Teplitz Bay, on Prince Rudolph Island, in 
latitude 81 degrees 53 minutes, was selected as a suitable place for 
wintering, and the ship was taken in and anchored near enough to 
the shore to permit the easy landing of stores. 

Teplitz Bay is open towards the south and west, the land on the 
north being level but rocky. A leader of more experience in Arctic 
navigation would have had doubts as to the securit}^ of the situation 
as a place for a ship to lie exposed to the winter movements of the 



304 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

ice. With the bay open on two sides, it was scarcely possible for it 
to escape from the pressure of moving floes outside ; but the opinion 
was held that the ice along the shores was strong enough to with- 
stand any pressure from the open sea, and so the "Stella Polare" 
was moored to the shore. Their trust was nearly to prove fatal. 

Brief journeys along the coast and over the highest land which 
could be reached, an elevation of 2,900 feet, effectually disposed of 
the claims of Peterman Land and King Oscar Land, islands placed 
on the map by the Payer expedition. Nansen also had failed to find 
these islands, and it seemed certain that the former explorers had 
been deceived by massive bodies of ice, resembling land. 

By September 7th the work of preparation for wintering in 
this situation was completed and the explorers made merry over 
their success to this date and hopefully discussed the prospect before 
them. The difficulties which beset other explorers, often from the 
very commencement of their journeys, had not been experienced 
by them, and now, with their vessel almost as high to the north as 
any vessel had yet been, with their complete outfit at one of the 
most northerly stations yet established, and with everything snug 
and secure for the winter, it is not surprising that they should have 
allowed their enthusiasm to run away with them. It was the first 
time that Italy had entered into the contest of winning fame from 
the mysteries of the Arctic, and the outlook was so rosy that they 
-were not without dreams of carrying the flag to the Pole itself and 
showing to the world that the all-conquering spirit of ancient Rome 
still animated the race. Their Norwegian comrades, men of colder 
temperament, felt like postponing the triumph until the battle was 
won, but the enthusiasm of the southern nature could not be 
repressed. 

They were soon to gain a truer idea of the task before them, 

and to learn the unsafe conditions of their situation. An ice-floe, 

drifting in the sea beyond the bay, caught the edge of the shore ice, 

in which the "Stella Polare" lay at rest, as it passed. The ice 

37 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 305 

yielded to the strain, and along its length was uplifted a ridge of 
hummock ice. The line of pressure passed through the spot where 
the "Stella Polare" was made fast. The hummock rose against 
her bows and forced her ninety feet away from where she had been, 
while, at the same moment, an increase in the pressure caught her 
by the sides, heeled her over, and cracked her timbers till those on 
board rushed to the deck under the belief that the vessel was about 
to collapse. The rigging of the foremast was torn away, the planks 
of the exposed side showed spaces of three inches between them, 
and water poured into the hold so rapidly that it was feared the ship 
would go down. The hand-pump was manned and worked, while 
the fires were lit so as to get up steam and set the steam-pump going, 
every one who was not required for these jobs working vigorously 
to get all stores out of the ship and on to the ice, lest she should go 
down and leave them stranded and foodless. The Arctic was giving 
a characteristic and rugged greeting to the visitors from the South. 
The stores were landed with the greatest rapidity, the activity 
with which every one worked being still further stimulated by the 
news from below that the hand-pump, which was being worked by 
four men, could not keep the water back, and that already it was 
almost touching the bars of the furnaces. At one time it looked as 
though there would be no chance of saving the fires, and had the 
water once reached them and so prevented steam being got up, the 
plight of the explorers would have been critical in the extreme. As 
it was, the Norwegian engineers worked like heroes, and managed 
to make enough steam to start the steam-pump just as the water 
touched the fires in one of the boiler furnaces. The steam-pump, 
assisting the hand-pump, was sufficient to keep the water from' 
rising further, but not enough to keep it back altogether. Neither 
the steam nor the hand jDump, by itself, could prevent the water 
from rising. Both had to be kept going, since if the water should 
reach the fires and put them out the efifort to save the ship might 
have proved hopeless. 



3o6 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

.They worked on with a brave persistence, Italian and Nor- 
wegian ahke, until they had all the stores out on the ice, together 
with spars, ropes, sails, and all other things needed for the con- 
struction of a shelter in which to pass the winter, if it should become 
necessary. This was only completed after twenty-four hours of 
toil, and when it was finished the worn-out party sought a brief 
respite in sleep. As soon as the pumps ceased working the waters 
rose rapidly in the holds and over the furnace bars, putting out the 
fires. Contrary to expectations, the 'ship did not go down, the ice 
being sufficiently strong to sustain it from sinking, so that the water 
stopped rising when it had covered the furnaces. 

Although the ship was now secure from sinking, it had heeled 
over to such an extent that it was impossible to remain on board, 
and a hut was erected on shore, around which the stores were 
stacked for the winter. For ten days the entire party labored at 
this work, and when it was finished it was realized that all the plans 
for the preliminary sledge trips must be abandoned. Instead of 
giving attention to reaching the Pole, It was first of all necessary 
to see what could be done in the way of repairing the ship so as to 
keep it afloat when the supporting ice should give way. 

A close examination revealed the fact that the severe pressure 
had considerably affected the form of the ship. The crank shaft 
was bent out of the straight, and the heavy iron beams which had 
been put in to strengthen the vessel amidships Avere all bent and 
twisted. The planks at the sides were started and gaped open in 
many places. The water which had made its way in had frozen, so 
that the furnaces were covered by a sheet of solid ice, Avhile the 
same thing existed in the hold. As the hand-pump could not lower 
the water alone, it was decided to use a boiler and pump which 
formed part of the balloon equipment. Although the use of these 
articles efifectually terminated any hopes of balloon experiments, it 
enabled them to get the water down sufficiently to permit of repairs 
being efifected. From the beginning of October to the middle of 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 307 

November the work of repairing fully occupied the crew; but they 
succeeded in making the ship water-tight and available for depar- 
ture when the winter should pass. The bay, by this time, was 
frozen over sufficiently to preclude any fears of further nips 
occurring. 

On November 20th the last vestige of daylight vanished, and 
thenceforward the explorers were in the gloom of the Arctic night. 
A heavy snow-storm entirely covered the dog kennels, so that the 
animals had to run loose for a time. This was not satisfactory, for 
those of the creatures which were unable to squeeze into shelter 
near the hut, were frozen to the ice as they slept. To overcome this, 
big holes were dug in the ground, the dogs were driven in, and the 
entrances walled up. But the Arctic dog is a creature of resource, 
and when the men in charge of them went in due time to feed the 
animals, it was found that they had made an outlet for themselves 
by burrowing through the snow, and were again at liberty. A 
wall of biscuit tins was now built round the inside of the holes, and 
the entire mass frozen by pouring water over the tins. But the 
dogs again burrowed their way out, and they were then left to their 
own devices, the holes being left open, so that there should be some 
shelter available for the dogs if they liked to use it. This most of 
them did not like, preferring to squeeze in between the sides of the 
hut and the kitchen, where they contributed their share to the enter- 
tainment by occasional howling choruses during the long dark 
hours of the winter. 

During the long night the plans for the sledge expeditions 
to the North, which had been so effectively interrupted by the nip- 
ping of the ship, were further considered. As the original scheme 
could no longer be carried out, a modified plan was adopted. Under 
this, it was determined to send out three parties, which were to 
start about the middle of February and press forward towards the 
Pole. Each party was to consist of three Italians. One was to 
carry provisions for thirty days, the second for sixty days, and the 



3o8 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

third for ninety days. The second and third parties were to carry 
kayaks. An advance party 'had been sent out early in the month 
to establish depots of supplies on the proposed route. It returned 
in a few days, having accomplished its purpose. 

It had been intended that the Duke of the Abruzzi should lead 
the detachments as the head of the third party, the one which would 
have the honor of proceeding the longest way ; but early in January 
he had two fingers of his right hand frost-bitten so severely that 
the two top joints had to be amputated. This debarred him from 
taking his place at the head of the enterprise, and he appointed Cap- 
tain Cagni to the lead in his stead. The other parties were com- 
manded, the first by Dr. Cavalli, and the second by Lieutenant Que- 
rini. A fourth party was to follow the other three for a couple of 
days, as an auxiliary, so as to allow of a saving in the consumption 
of provisions carried by the others. It was also arranged that 
twenty-five days after the start of the expedition, those of the com- 
pany who remained behind at Teplitz Bay should send a watch party 
to Cape Fligely, in order to be ready to set out and meet, and, if 
necessary, render any assistance which the returning members of 
the first detachment might require. From the top of Cape Fligely a 
distance of eight miles could be seen over the ice to the north, 
and a signal-post, erected on the cape, would be visible as a guide 
to the returning explorers as they approached over the ice. The 
watch party was to be on the cape again fifty-five days after the 
departure of the third detachment. 

The date of departure was ultimately fixed for the i8th of Feb- 
ruary. The detachments, when ready to start, numbered, in allj 
twelve men, with thirteen sledges, drawn by one hundred and foui 
dogs, each sledge weighing, with its load of provisions, six hun- 
dred and seventeen pounds. The weather, at the time of the start j 
was intensely cold, there having been a gale blowing for some days 
before. When all was ready for the march to begin, the detach- 
ments set out, after hearty farewells from those who remained be- 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 309 

hind, and who watched them slowly pass out of sight over the ice 
and into the cold mysteries of the white region lying towards the 
north. 

The camp at Teplitz Bay was strangely quiet after their de- 
parture, the absence of the dogs, no less than the absence of the 
men, rendering the place lonely and deserted. It was not expected 
that the auxiliary detachment would be back again for some days, 
and it was with very great surprise that the Duke, while walking 
near the hut one day, heard the sounds of dogs barking near at 
hand. He hastened in the direction whence the sounds came, and 
was astounded to see Lieutenant Querini coming towards him. 
Immediately he came to the conclusion that disaster had overtaken 
the expedition soon after starting, and that the lieutenant was the 
bearer of ill news, if not the only survivor of the detachment. 

The facts were, however, not so bad as this. What had hap- 
pened was that the cold had become so intense, after leaving Cape 
Fligely, that not only the men, but the dogs also, suffered severely, 
and were almost incapacitated. The experience of a few days 
revealed many points where improvement could be made in the 
arrangement of the sledges and their loading, and the commander, 
realizing that only valuable time would be lost, and perhaps the 
entire expedition jeopardized, by pushing on under the circum- 
stances, decided to return to the main camp, so as to overhaul the 
arrangements, and reorganize the detachments in the light of their 
experience. 

By the time the detachments were again ready to start, Febru- 
ary had passed and IMarch loth had arrived. The loss of time, con- 
sequent on their return, necesitated an alteration in the program 
of all the parties, and when they set out the second time the order 
of march was for the first detachment to return after twelve days' 
march, the second in twenty-four, and the third in thirty-six. The 
detachments were also varied, so that the main detachment should 
number four instead of three men. A Norwegian, the engineer 



3IO ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

of the ship, was included in the first detachment at his earnest 
request. 

The second start was made on Sunday, March nth, and this 
time there was no turning back. On March 28th, Abruzzi went, 
with the watch party, to Cape FHgely, and constructed a shelter 
in which they could remain in readiness to greet the first detach- 
ment on its return, the date of which was expected to be April 4th. 
On that date, and for some days before, an anxious watch was kept 
from the lookout point towards the north, but no signs were seen 
of the returning explorers. For a day or so this did not cause any 
grave anxiety, as it was quite possible that there might be a brief 
delay, but as the days went by without a sign, and the days grew 
into weeks, there was serious uneasiness at the continued non- 
appearance of the men. 

The time arrived when the second detachment was due, and 
still the watchers saw no signs of the returning men. Uneasiness 
gave place to grave anxiety, and the few who remained at the 
camp were beginning to wonder whether they would be obliged to 
return home alone, with only a tale of loss and disaster to bear to 
their country, when a man of the second party reached the camp 
in a state of great exhaustion. His story was that his detachment, 
the second, had parted with the third on March 31st, and had been 
successful on the return journey up to April 15th, when an open 
channel in the ice near the island had stopped their march. For 
days they had sought a way round it, but, failing, the leader had 
despatched the man in the kayak to reach the watch station, and 
summon the assistance of a boat party, to convey the remainder 
over the channel. The man had attempted to land at a point where 
the ice was some fifteen feet high, but while he was testing it to 
see if he could clamber up, the kayak slipped away from him and 
left him clinging, with no hope of escape if he should slip into the 
water below. 

He was one of the Alpine guides, and with his ice-axe he 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 3" 

nmnaged to cut a way up the ice to the summit, though the struggle 
was a terrible strain on his strength and skill. When, at last, he 
reached the summit, he was met by a new difficulty. He did not 
know where he was, nor in which direction the camp lay. He was 
without food, or refreshment, but he made his way to a higher 
point, from whence he was, fortunately, able to see the top of the 
ship's masts showing over the ice. This gave him the direction of 
the camp at Teplitz Bay, and he made his way thither, with as 
much speed as he could. When he arrived, he had been battling 
his way for over twenty-four hours, from the time he lost!' his 
kayak, a feat of very great endurance. 

In answer to anxious questions as to the first detachment, he 
said he and all the rest believed the first detachment was in the 
camp, for it had left the main body in time to reach Cape Fliigely 
by April 2d. At the time it started back, owing to the drift of the 
ice, the island could be distinctly seen, so that there could be no 
difficulty as to the men knowing which way to go. Moreover, a 
change had been made in the command, and the first detachment 
had left under the command of Lieutenant Querini, Dr. Cavalli 
having been placed at the head of the second detachment owing to 
his showing greater staying powers on the march than the lieu- 
tenant. 

As soon as the rest of the detachment had been conveyed from 
the ice pack to the camp, Dr. Cavalli corroborated the story and 
shared, with the rest of the expedition, the anxiety at the non- 
arrival of the little band. His detachment, he said, had parted 
with the main party on March 31st, and had seen Captain Cagni 
and his companions continue their way to the north, with a train 
of six sledges and forty-eight dogs. The first detachment might, 
he suggested, have been carried away to the east, and, as they had 
no kayak with them, they might have been cut off by an open 
channel and so prevented from reaching the island. Relief parties 
were immediately sent out to search the ice in that direction, and 



312 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

also to see whether the men had taken refuge on the islands further 
to the northeast, where Nansen and Johansen had passed their 
winter. The search was continued until May loth, when the parties 
returned, having searched far and wide but without finding any 
trace of the missing detachment. It was then hoped that they had 
made their way to Cape Flora, where there was an abundance of 
food and other necessaries, but when the "Stella Polare" touched 
there, on her way home, no signs were found of the missing men, 
and it was then realized that they were lost. How, or when, or 
where, they had met their end, no one could form any opinion. A 
break in the ice may have precipitated them into a channel; cold 
may have overcome them as they slept; moving hummocks may 
have overwhelmed them, or a sudden snow-storm may have caused 
them to lose their direction, and have led them into dangers they 
were not able to escape. When no trace could be found of them, 
and no vestige of their outfit discovered on the ice, or the islands, 
there was only one thing the survivors could realize, and that was 
that their comrades had gone out of the world in silence, in mystery 
and in sacrifice to the knowledge of humanity. 

As the month of May gradually passed, the members of the 
expedition gathered at Cape Fligely so as to maintain a steady 
watch for the return of the main detachment. In addition to the 
watch party there was also a party at Teplitz Bay, and word was 
sent from one place to the other as the days went by, while short 
journeys were constantly being taken along the shores on the 
lookout for the return of Captain Cagni and his companions. The 
provisions they had with them were calculated only to last until 
May 26th, but the leader had expressed his intention, if he had not 
succeeded in reaching far enough to the north, of proceeding on 
reduced rations so as to attain as high a latitude as possible before 
returning. 

On the reduced scale they would be able to subsist until June 
loth, but when that date arrived and still there was no sign of them, 



ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 313 

the remainder of the expedition became alarmed. The disappear- 
ance of Lieutenant Querini and his companions did not tend to 
alleviate their anxiety. A week passed without any sign; June 
20th came and went, and the next two days saw the little com- 
munity depressed and sad at what they regarded as the fatal silence. 
On the 23d they barely exchanged words with one another, lest 
they should add to each other's sorrow by expressing the almost 
hopeless fear that every one felt. 

On the evening of that day the watch party at Cape Fligely 
had retired to their shelter when they heard the barking oi dogs. 
Hastily going outside, they saw a man, with a sledge, advancing 
from the direction of Teplitz Bay. They waited in silence for him 
to come up, fearing he brought news of disaster. But their fears 
were turned to joy when he shouted the news that the third detach- 
ment had safely returned to camp, having penetrated as far as 
86 degrees 34 minutes north, and so established the "farthest north" 
record of any expedition yet despatched to the Arctic. It was 
twenty geographic miles farther north than Nansen had reached. 

The story Captain Cagni had to tell was one of persistent 
courage and determination. The straits to which he and his com- 
panions were reduced were shown by the condition of their equip- 
ment. They had a single sledge in a very damaged state, a bottom- 
less saucepan, a broken cooking lamp, and a ragged tent. Their 
dogs were reduced to seven, the others having been killed to feed 
the survivors as well as the men. On the return journey the drift 
of the ice had carried them to the w^est, so that when they reached 
the latitude of Teplitz Bay they were many miles to the west of it. 
The condition of the ice had compelled them to go still further away 
before they were able to turn and head direct for the camp. 

From March nth to April 24th they marched steadily towards 
the north, and covered something like six hundred miles in ninety- 
five days. For the whole period of 104 days they marched 753 
miles. During the first stage of the journey they maintained a 



314 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 

Speed of five miles a day, but during the second stage they doubled 
that, and covered, on an average, ten miles a day. From their ex- 
perience they argued it was impossible to reach the Pole from any 
such base as that at Teplitz Bay while dog sledges were the only 
available means of transport. 

With the return of this detachment the work of the expedition 
was at an end. The vessel was freed from the ice after a little diffi- 
culty, and, proving to be seaworthy, steamed out of the bay on 
August 14th. They arrived at Hammer f est without mishap on 
September 5th. They were given a most enthusiastic reception on 
their return to Italy, having given that country the honor of reach- 
ing the "farthest north." 



CHAPTER XXIII 



Interesting Scientific Work in the Polar Regions 

THE scientific methods used by a polar explorer in determining 
his position are practically the same as those employed by a 
navigator in ascertaining his location at sea. The instru- 
ments are the same in design, but necessarily vary slightly in 
construction on account of the rough usage and extremely low tem- 
peratures to which they are subjected. 

The most important of these in- 
struments is the sextant, a light- 
weight, portable instrument for 
measuring the altitudes of the 
heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and 
stars, above the horizon, or their 
angular distance as seen in the sky. 
This instrument consists of a small 
telescope and a series of mirrors, by 
means of which the angle between 
the heavenly body selected and the 
horizon may be read on a gradu- 
lated scale in the form of an arc 
attached to the instrument. 

On shipboard the material used in the sextant is brass or 
bronze, but for ice traveling in late years aluminum has been em- 
ployed. 

Other necessary instruments are chronometers, or large 
watches, with compensating balance wheels, constructed for ex- 

(315) 




SEXTANT. 

Instrument by Queen & Co., 
Philadelphia. 



3i6 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE POLAR REGIONS 




treme accuracy in timekeeping, every known device being em4 
ployed to insure absolute uniformity of running. They are set 
to the exact time of a standard meridian (such as 
that of Greenwich, England), several being carried, 
of which the exact rate of gain or loss in each is 
known. By comparison of these with each other 
the observer is able to tell the precise moment of 
taking his observation. 

An artificial horizon is another indispensable 
instrument. The greatest difficulty in astronomical 
work in the polar regions lies in getting a suitable 
horizon. The mariner in the open sea in clear 
weather has little difficulty in measuring the angle 
between any heavenly body and the actual visible 
sea horizon. On shore or surrounded by a sea of 
ice in various forms there is no such thing as a level, 
unbroken horizon, so that it becomes necessary to 
resort to an artificial horizon of some sort. 

The usual method is to use a basin of mercury, 
which, when sheltered from the wind by a glass 
cover, forms a perfectly smooth horizon surface in 
which the heavenly bodies are brilliantly reflected. 
It is then necessary only to measure with a sextant 
the angle between the body in the heavens and its 
reflection in the artificial horizon to determine its 
actual elevation above the true horizon. It must be 
remembered, however, that mercury freezes at 
about forty degrees Fahrenheit below zero, and has 
accordingly a very limited field of usefulness in the 
polar regions. For this reason and on account of 
its weight some other form of artificial horizon is 
necessary. 

Other liquids besides mercury have been used, 



BAROMETER. 



Instrument by Queen 
&• Co., Philadelphia. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE POLAR REGIONS 



317 



as have also glass mirrors made horizontal by means of screw legs 
and spirit levels. These last require great care in adjusting, and 
there is always more or less error attending their use. With the 
above instruments one can determine his position with sufficient 
accuracy whenever the sun, moon or any of the principal stars is 
visible, but, having done so, it is a matter of no small difficulty to 
ascertain what is the proper direction in which to travel to be sure 
of always going north or south. 

The compass, to which we are accustomed to look for guid- 




ARTIFICIAL HORIZON. 

Instrument by Queen & Co., 
Philadelphia. 



ance, does not, as is well known, point to the geographical pole, but 
to a region some distance from it, called the magnetic pole. At any 
place between that and the true pole the compass needle will point 
toward the magnetic pole. If to one side of the magnetic pole, it 
\Ni\\ point more or less east or west, as the case may be. 

The drawbacks to determining one's position in the polar 
regions do not lie in the computations, but in the great difficult}^ of 
securing accurate ob¥€r.vi*4:k>ns. The lenses and mirrors of the 



3i8 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE POLAR REGIONS 



instruments are covered with frost from the warmth of the body or 
the breath, the lubricating oil freezes in the joints, the silver back- 
ing of the mirrors cracks and granulates in the cold, and the arti- 
ficial horizons freeze if liquid, and refuse to stay horizontal if solid. 
Should there be fog or the heavens be overcast, no observations 
are possible. During the six months of summer daylight the stars 
are not visible, although the brightest planets might be seen in espe- 
cially favorable circumstances. The pole star, even if visible in 
winter, is of no practical utility. After the observation is taken, 




\C' '^liiM^^W^^ 



.^ 



^^^SJt^S^scK.^i^^J'^^^^-o''* __,^.^_^_^__ _ . . ■ 



Method of determining the position of the North Pole with a Sextant. 



certain corrections must be applied to the observed altitude to con- 
vert it to the true altitude. Of these the correction for refraction 
is the most important. 

While not indispensable to an explorer, there are several other 
instruments of great value to him and of which records are of the 
utmost importance to science. Among these may be noted the 
Aneroid Barometer, an instrument used for determining the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere. If the pressure at sea level is known, this 
instrument will give a fairly accurate reading of the altitude at 
which the observer is standing. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE POLAR REGIONS 



319 



The thermometer, giving the temperature of the air, is natu- 
rally of great interest and value to the explorer. The ordinary 
mercury in glass thermometers is useless in extremely low tempera- 
tures, from the fact that mercury freezes at a temperature of 37.8 
degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Consequently it is necessary to use 
what are known as spirit thermometers, or instruments in which 
a fluid having a lower freezing point than mercury is employed. 

If the observer wishes to obtain an automatic record of either 





POCKET SEXTANT. 

Instrument by Queen & Co., 
Philadelphia. 



POCKET COMPASS. 

Instrument by Queen & 
Co., Philadelphia. 



the highest or lowest temperature to which the instrument has been 
exposed, he may use what are known as Maximum or Minimum 
Thermometers. These are simply thermometers containing a device 
which remains fixed either at the highest or lowest temperature 
recorded. 

A full equipment of scientific instruments might also include 
a wind gauge or Anemometer and deep-sea sounding instruments. 

The Anemometer consists of a small fan, upon which the wind 



352' 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE POLAR REGIONS 



acts. The revolutions of this fart are recorded by a series of dials, 
which indicate the velocity of the wind in feet per minute. 

For deep-sea sounding, a sounding machine is used which auto- 




ANEROID BAROMETER. 

Instrument by Queen & Co., 
Philadelphia. 




ANEMOMETER. 

Instrument by Queen & Co., 
Philadelphia. 



matically records the pressure of the water, and from this the depth 
may be ascertained, as the two are in exact proportion. 



* The 32 pages of illustrations contained in this book are not included in the paging. 
Adding these 32 pages to the 320 pages of text makes a total of 352 pa^es. 



